Too Wicked to Love
by theVisforVampire
Summary: Post-Sacrifice. Missing D/E car scene on the way home. "Damn it, Elena!" Damon swore loudly, reaching for her and cupping her chin, giving her every opportunity to pull away before his lips descended on hers in a scorching, passionate kiss.
1. Chapter 1

Thump, thump. Elena's heartbeat was accelerating at a mile a minute pace as Damon handed her into the car. Her expression was wary, almost fearful, as she strapped herself into the passenger seat, with a hint of trepidation on her face of what was to come next. Doubtless, she anticipated some sort of angry tirade or stern lecture from him, but Damon was _not_ Stefan, so pulling the whole disappointed father routine with Elena wasn't really on his agenda. He did, however, want to impart the incredible stupidity of her scheme. When Rose had called him, his emotions had given way to incredible worry and panic, afraid that he would arrive too late, afraid that Rose wouldn't protect Elena from her kamikaze mission, afraid that Elena would succeed in sacrificing herself to Klaus. But now that Elena was sufficiently safe and back under his watchful eye, that fear for her life had turned into anger - anger that she would be so careless with her life. Damon would never let anything happen to her, and he knew for a fact that Stefan would die trying to save her, if his willingness to go to his death while rescuing her from Rose and Trevor was any indication. And her little gang of pals wouldn't let her die without a fight either, Damon mused, thinking upon Vampire Barbie and Judgy, not to mention mini-Gilbert Jeremy.

"What are we going to do with you?" he smirked, wrapping his arm around the back of her headrest so that his fingertips lightly danced against the back of her neck. She shivered involuntarily and fixed him with her impossibly huge doe-eyes. "You can't scare me, Damon," she retorted, crossing her arms over her chest. He had to hand it to her, she was brave for standing up to an angry vampire, considering her very human self. Brave or just plain foolish, anyway.

"Well, someone has to put the fear of God, or in this case, Klaus, into you," Damon snapped, starting the ignition with an angry twist of the wrist. "Have you gone mental? Asking Rose, whose loyalty to us seems somewhat dubious at this point, to arrange a meeting with some lowlife vampire scum so they can bring you to Klaus, who will kill you slowly and painfully so that all vampires will be able to walk in the sun, endangering not just your friends and family but the rest of the world? Yeah, please explain to me how _any_ of that seemed like a good idea, Elena." His grip tightened on the steering wheel as he pulled out onto a busy street. He was beyond pissed. Pissed didn't even cover it - pissed fell short. He recalled the conversation in the kitchen at Elena's house just that morning. How her eyes had lingered on him when she said she cared about him getting hurt or worse dying, before they left his to land on Stefan. He knew he shouldn't read anything into it; just because she and Stefan were broken up didn't mean that they'd stopped loving each other. Damon still didn't stand a chance in Hades with her and he was well aware of that fact.

"You just offered yourself up to Klaus on a silver platter, Elena," Damon said tiredly when Elena remained annoyingly unresponsive. His hands tensed around the wheel. God, the effort of maintaining control of the whirlwind of human emotions that inflamed him was driving him insane. As a vampire, it was easy. It all came down to hunger, whether it was for sex or food, it all merged into one same, basic, essential need. With Elena, he felt like he was unraveling. A mere human girl made him feel guilt, shame, but most importantly, a fierce desire to protect her from all harm. "You were seconds away from dying today."

"It doesn't matter." The words were spoken so softly that at first even Damon's extra-sensory hearing had trouble catching them.

"Excuse me?" he demanded furiously, pressing his foot down harder on the accelerator. "Have you even, just for one second, considered what will happen if you died? Do you think your brother can survive that? Elena, he's lost your parents, Vicki...", Damon inwardly cringed, "and Anna". Mention of Vicki made him feel oddly responsible, an emotion he was uncomfortable with feeling, and Anna's name just made him want to end John Gilbert's existence, which would be very easy now that he didn't have his handy-dandy ring, Damon mused. He merged with traffic effortlessly, hitting 90 mph, almost daring a policeman to pull him over. "Elena, I'm not sure you're aware, but your baby bro wanted to shut down his emotions so badly that he not only wanted to die, he wanted to become a _vampire_," he said mockingly, masking his worry and irritation with her stubbornness with his usual trademark sarcasm. "You're _really_ willing to risk that again?"

Elena's eyes blazed with anger at the memory of his hands snapping Jeremy's neck. "I'm very much aware of...the past," she hissed at him, her eyes shooting daggers. "I was even there when you killed him, remember? Funny thing about me, I can't seem to get the image of my brother's broken body out of my head. Burned onto the back of my retinas so that even when I close my eyes, I still see him. Worse, I see you. God...and you had the audacity to kiss me before you did it!" she exclaimed, startling Damon with her impassioned outburst. "God help me, I should hate you, but I don't. I trust you and even though you've proven yourself to be a monster at times, I still care about you, Damon. If anything happened to you, do you think I could live with myself?"

Damon chose his words carefully, trying to ignore the spasm of pain that lanced through his body as he remembered what he'd done to her younger brother. It hadn't been about Jeremy at all; it had been about Elena. It wasn't even about Katherine saying she'd never loved him. Deep down, he knew that even though he'd met Katherine first, in his eyes, he'd been using her to replace Elena's place in his heart. So when Elena had told him that it had always been Stefan, he'd felt double the hurt, double the anguish, double the anger, and as a result, he'd made a very poor decision and taken it out on Jeremy just to hurt Elena. "I regret my actions," he said slowly. "But this, today? Not my fault. You can't blame me for not allowing you to sacrifice yourself, Elena. That's cruel, even for you. I will protect you, no matter what."

"Who am I to you, that you should be willing to do this for me?" she demanded. "I'm not your girlfriend, Damon, and I'm your friend only out of necessity." She nearly choked on her anger, not caring that she was speaking too quickly, her voice slurred with the urgency to get all her words out at once before she lost the courage to say them at all. "Do you really think I'm so blind that I can't see the similarities between myself and Katherine? People who befriended her, who tried to help her, they end up screwed over, Damon! You, Stefan, Rose, Trevor...and you say you'll protect me? I don't want lives laid down to defend mine, Damon. I don't. I don't _want _to be protected if it comes at the cost of you or anyone else I love. I won't be like her. I'm not accepting casualties just to save my own skin."

Taken aback, he could only furrow his brow in consternation at the vast expanse of highway in front of him. What did that mean? She loved him? No, that couldn't be true. Her love applied only to those who had proved worthy of it, and it had only been a slip of the tongue that she'd included him in that list.

"I won't give up trying to save the people I love," she said insistently.

"Your idea of a solution was a dead end, Elena. Literally," Damon retorted. "Besides, you do know that if anything happened to you, Saint Stefan would pin it on me? He'd stake me to Kingdom come."

"I told you," Elena replied somewhat sullenly. "It was my choice, Damon. God forbid you and Stefan remember to let me make one. I'm not the girl on the road, trapped inside a wrecked car anymore. This was my choice and if you hadn't shown up, I would have seen it through. At least Rose understood."

"Rose lied," Damon said impatiently, waving a hand in the air. "And, in case you forgot, she also _skedaddled_ the second Elijah showed up, or did you miss that while you were off making stupid decisions?" he said scathingly.

"I'm not some frail doll that has to be protected."

Quick as a flash, Damon was looming over her. "Damon, the road!" Elena squeaked as she noticed his hands had left the steering wheel. Completely confident in his abilities to drive with one eye on the road, Damon gripped her shoulders, letting his face transform into the menacing visage of a vampire. Her eyes widened; she'd seen Damon like this before, but never directed towards her. Elena shrank against her seat. He was terrifying. Damon growled in a strangely feral way, but she could see no signs of bloodlust, even though the veins under his eyes were prominently displayed.

His eyes burned into hers, flashing dangerously. "All it would take, my dear naive Elena, is one movement of my hands to snap your neck and effectively end your life," he hissed, his hands wrapping around her neck; firmly, but not hard enough to bruise. Stefan would kill him if he came back to Mystic Falls with so much as a scratch on the human. "So yeah, you are frail. And you'd be wise to remember that," he added, not unkindly, as he let his face fall back into a more human-friendly version.

After twenty minutes passed by in complete silence, Elena staring moodily out the window, and Damon growing annoyed by the screaming boy bands on the radio, finally stopped fiddling with the knob. "Are you seriously going to ignore me?" he asked in aggravation, rolling his eyes.

Elena turned to look at him, and what he saw in her face made the last vestiges of Damon's anger evaporate. Two tears tracks were running down her cheeks and her lower lip was wobbling. "I don't question why you and Stefan and the rest of them try _so_ hard to save me," she whispered, running a hand through her hair. "So you shouldn't question why I would try to save all of you."

Taken aback, Damon didn't know what to say, so he settled instead for taking an exit ramp. "Damon? What...what are you doing? Where are you taking me?" Elena straightened in her seat, straining to see where they were.

"We, Elena, are getting a quick bite to eat before heading back," Damon said, flashing Elena a sunny smile, flirting with his eyes. He parked the car in front of a Wendys and used his speed to blur over to her side to open her door for her. She stepped out cautiously, blinking into the bright rays of the setting sun.

"But Stefan will be worried...we should call him, let him know where we -" Elena broke off, distracted. "Damon!" His nimble fingers had snatched the phone out of her hands where her fingers were busily searching for Saint Stefan in her contact list. "Give it back!" She tried to lunge for it, but failed.

"Ah, what have we here?" Damon asked himself out loud, purely for Elena's benefit, as he scrolled leisurely through the numbers stored in her phone. "Damon!" Elena said loudly, managing to knock the phone out of his hand. She scrambled to pick it up, but he was quicker. The highlighted contact had landed on ICE, which he assumed was Stefan. "Shh, it's not polite to be rowdy while someone's on the phone," he teased, holding Elena at arms length as she attempted to get her phone back.

A loud ringing erupted and Damon froze. What the hell? Shocked, he reached in his back pocket and pulled out his phone. The word "Elena" flashed at him on the screen. His arm fell slack and Elena's face looked horrified as she slumped against the side of the car. "Me?" Damon said slowly, drawing his eyebrows together in confusion, his silvery blue eyes looking astonished. He lifted his gaze from the phone to her wan face. "_I'm_ your In Case of Emergency contact?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Wow, thanks for all the reviews, guys! I'm thrilled that my first fanfic was received so well, and to give you all a big thank you, I decided to finish chapter 2 asap so I could share it with you all. There's no greater reward to me than lots and lots of reviews and critiques, so keep them coming! I hope you all like reading this chapter as much as I liked writing it.**

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Elena's heart hammered in her chest. In the blink of an eye, Damon blurred in front of her, his icy blue eyes staring intently into her chocolate brown orbs. She involuntarily took a step back, but then wanted to kick herself when she came in contact with the car.

Her face was so close to his that he felt the air escape from between her lips. Fear radiated off of her in waves. For the most part, she did trust Damon, but she also wasn't naïve enough to forget what he was underneath the human façade.

"So, Elena," he began in a perfectly conversational tone of voice. "Care to enlighten me as to why my digits are featured oh-so-prominently in your phone?" He tossed the phone back at her. Elena's hands came up quickly to catch it, holding it protectively against her chest and glaring at him. "You're an ass," she retorted, refusing to be cowed.

He took an intimidating step towards her, delighted to hear her heart rate increase to a dizzying speed. Damon circled her slowly, like a predatory animal, sending a shiver down her spine. Reaching out, he took a lock of her hair and twirled it around his finger. Twisting, Elena pulled out of his reach, breaking his caress.

"You can't bully me, Damon," Elena huffed, crossing her arms over her chest, undoubtedly to appear tougher, but it just jutted her breasts out. "What, are you going to threaten to break my arm again if I don't tell you?" she asked in a snarky tone, raising a perfectly arched eyebrow. To make her point, she muttered "ass" again under her breath as an afterthought.

"I may be an ass, but I'm also a vampire, so therefore I don't care. You can sling all the little barbs at me that you want," Damon pointed out, waggling his brows at her. He felt a little irritated that she breezed past the fact that he had repeatedly saved her life and instead chose to focus on the little threat he'd made to keep her safe. He'd never have done it, but he felt a bit aggravated that she would use it against him, making him sound damn near abusive.

"Damon, aren't we past that? You care and you know it, and you know I know it too, so you can stop with the whole I'm-a-vampire-and-therefore-better-than-you bullshit act." Her arms dropped to her sides.

"I never said I was better than you," Damon replied mildly, a little bemused that she'd know him so well. "And slick subject change, Elena. Kudos." He slung an arm over her shoulder, which she briefly resisted, then realized there was no way she could really get him off her if he really wanted to be there. Besides, she'd gotten used to him invading her space bubble; it might have almost been endearing if he didn't always have some rude or pervy thing to say.

"Damon…" Elena began to say, but he cut her off.

"No, really, I'm intrigued." Damon's piercing blue eyes fixed on her face, strangely unblinking. "Why am I your ICE contact?" All traces of amusement had vanished from his features, leaving him with a modicum of sincerity on his face. Ever since he'd met her, he had felt…a connection to her. There had always been understanding between them, and while it might not have always included trust, they had always had that special spark, that chemistry. Understanding had always come easily, but the friendship, not so much.

Trying not to let her see how important her answer was to him, he released her from his hold and stood back to face her. "Why me?" he repeated. The _"and not Stefan"_ was left unsaid, but they both heard the words in their own minds. He hadn't meant for it to come out sounding needy, and he hoped she didn't notice. He'd have to pull some other asshole stunt if she did, maybe snacking on the Wendy's cashier (he _was_ getting pretty hungry); he didn't want her thinking he'd suddenly gone soft.

"You're better in a crisis," Elena said finally with a sigh, as though the admission had cost her greatly.

Damon absorbed this, finding it hard to believe that Elena thought he was better in a crisis than Stefan, Mystic Falls' resident white knight. Before he could ask her to elaborate, her mouth was open and she was speaking.

"I know people think you're impulsive and reckless and don't think things through. But I think you _do_ think things through and weigh the consequences, but then go right ahead and do it anyway. You go with your gut instinct. It's not always right…" Here Elena paused, reliving the epic lack of control Damon had demonstrated when he'd attacked Bonnie in the woods so long ago, and more recently, when he'd snapped Jeremy's neck.

Clearing her throat, she added, "It's not like in the movies. Good and evil isn't as black and white as I'd like it to be. There's shades of gray. _You're_ a shade of gray." Her brow furrowed as she realized he probably wasn't following her thought process. "You can always tell who the bad guys are in a movie, right? It's easy to pick out the villains and the heroes. You're the kind of person who's both good and bad at the same time, and weirdly, that combination makes me feel safe. After what you did to Jeremy…" her voice caught and she blinked back tears that brimmed to the surface, "…I honestly didn't think I could forgive you. I think I hated you, but even I wasn't _your_ friend anymore, I knew you were still _my_ friend. I knew you had my back, and…" Elena trailed off, trying to gauge his reaction. He was just staring back at her with an unreadable, penetrating expression. "And I'm glad that you didn't stop trying to win me back. Even when I despised you the most, I couldn't imagine my life without you in it."

Damon was like wildfire, fiery and unrestrained. But lately, underneath all the violence, impatience, and frustration…he'd somehow found a small sliver of humanity. Slowly but steadily, it was growing, but Elena wasn't kidding herself; she knew that his humanity existed for her only. He was fighting everything he once was for her, and at least that was a step in the right direction.

Not breaking eye contact with him, she bit her lower lip. "You make me feel safe, Damon, and I trust your decisions. I know that when they concern me, you won't steer me wrong." She flushed, suddenly feeling guilty for implying that she didn't trust Stefan's decisions. It wasn't what she had meant at all, but somehow it had come out that way, and she didn't know how to take it back.

"You're kidding," Damon said baldly, stunned at her assessment of him. "I make you feel safe? Hell, Elena, you should be running away from me screaming your head off!"

He had no idea how much Elena wanted to scream – _at him_. Her carefully worded, deeply thought out answer seemed to have been totally disregarded. She was embarrassed that Damon had turned it around to make her seem like an idiot for not being more frightened of him.

Not wanting Damon to read too much into her confession, Elena added quickly, "Not to mention, you're like, wicked strong. If I was in trouble, you have more experience." That was pretty factual; in a fight, there weren't many vampires that could get the better of Damon, even if they were older.

Damon let a self-satisfied smirk spread over his face as she admitted that he was physically powerful, more powerful than Stefan. He might not be able to compete with his little brother for Elena's heart, or in any other aspect for that matter, but at least in terms of strength, Damon knew where he stood. He knew, for one thing, that he was strong enough to protect Elena even if Stefan couldn't.

Her admission of why he was good in a crisis terrified him. It was so weird to have actual responsibilities after several lifetimes of not caring about anybody except himself, and the fact that Elena, the epitome of goodness, saw something redeemable in him made his chest tighten where his heart should have been.

"Come on," he nodded his head towards the fast-food restaurant. "I'll buy you dinner, all gentleman-like," Damon smirked.

"You're doing that eye thing again," Elena pointed out in annoyance, still miffed that he hadn't acknowledged her heartfelt estimation of him. To which he merely held his arm out to her with his lips curled upwards in that ever-present smirk of his.

"This isn't a da-" she began to say as he tugged her towards the door of the establishment, but he interrupted her.

"Yes, yes, Elena, this isn't a date, I know. Besides, if it _was_ a date, which it's not, don't you think I'd take you somewhere a little nicer than Wendys?" Damon retorted, scrunching his nose. "I promise I'm not going to try to get in your pants. Scout's honor."

"You were never a Boy Scout," Elena replied, unable to resist a small smile at the thought of Damon as a little boy, earning merit badges.

"No, but I probably ate one once," Damon said offhandedly, unable to resist teasing her.

"Damon!" Elena groaned, hitting his chest half-heartedly. She peered up at him as he held the door open for her. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Damon replied, letting the door swing shut behind them.

"No, not for that. For coming after me. Saving my life, yet again, even when I didn't want you to. That's the Damon who is my friend."

"Is?" Damon quickly latched onto that word. "Does that mean the Cold War between us is over?"

Elena stared up into his swirling blue eyes. "You're my friend, Damon, and I'm yours," she said simply. "It would suck if that was gone forever," she said in a low voice, turning to move to the counter to place her order.

Damon stared after her, hearing her echo the words he'd said to her a few weeks ago. Emotions began racing inside him, and as he stepped up beside her to examine the menu board, he'd never felt so damn human in his entire unlife.

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**A/N: Whew! There was a bit of angst in the beginning but it ended with some cuteness, so on the whole I'm pretty pleased with this chapter. For chapter three, I'm torn between doing a D/E scene where Elena is forced to confront some feelings of jealousy that arise when she sees Damon flirting with another girl…or doing a Jeremy/Katherine/Stefan scene leading up to Stefan being trapped in the tomb (but with a MAJOR twist). While this is Delena-centric, I adore the heated dialogues and flirty banter between Katherine and Stefan (although NO ONE can rival D/E's sexual tension), and I'd love to try my hand at that, so I know I'll be doing both ideas for chapters 3 & 4, but I'll let you guys vote on which should come first. :D Once again, thank you to everyone who reviewed, it's very much appreciated.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: All the positive feedback I've been getting from chapter 2 has really been an inspiration and I can't thank you guys enough for it, especially those of you who have been leaving a review for each chapter. **

**I've been writing nonstop for the last few days in the effort to get all my jumbled thoughts into text before I forgot them, so hopefully I can manage to please most, if not all, of my readers with this chapter, when Elena is finally forced to confront her feelings about the "D" word. Because there were so many requests for the tomb scene, I'm going to address the prologue to that as well in here, briefly. Just a little teaser of what's to come ;)  
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**Happy holidays to everyone! You know what the best present would be? If I could get 60 reviews by Christmas. That. Would. Be. Incredible. Reviews = love.**

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"We should go back," Jeremy insisted. "No stone left unturned and all that." No one really knew why he was here. Bonnie was a witch, Caroline and Stefan and Rose were all vampires – where the hell did Jeremy come in? Rose studied the group, giving them all a careful once-over. The one most under her scrutiny was Jeremy; other than his nifty piece of jewelry, he didn't seem to have any real purpose in Elena's little army.

Rose shot him a withering look. "I think we've already gotten as much out of Slater's computer as we could have." The truth was, she didn't really want to go back. It held too many bad memories for her; first, finding Slater dead, and from the angle of the stake, it looked like he'd done it himself. _Or was forced to do it_, Rose mentally added, a chill running down her spine as she remembered Elijah's bland face as he'd ripped the hearts out of the guys who had come to take Elena to Klaus. The second memory was one of Damon playing savior to Elena. The look of fierce protectiveness and love in his eyes was impossible to miss, so Rose had no idea why Elena was still in the dark about his feelings for her.

After centuries of being _just_ Trevor's best friend, Rose wanted more. She wanted love, romance, danger…she wanted someone to look at her the way Damon looked at Elena when he thought no one was looking. Tragic as it was, Rose had the feeling that deep down, she was a little jealous of Elena. So many people willing to die for her, lambs for the slaughter, yet they did it anyway just because they loved her.

Just like Trevor had loved Katerina once upon a time, Rose thought, fighting back a lump in her throat. The parallels between the two girls were unmistakable, yet what Katherine had done with malice and manipulative intent, Elena was completely innocent of. She didn't seem to have any idea of the power she wielded over the Salvatore brothers, and maybe that was a good thing.

"Yeah but you could have missed something," Jeremy argued, standing up straight, suddenly looking more mature and less like Elena's screw-up kid brother. He crossed his arms over his chest, looking obstinate.

"I hate to agree with the runt here, but he could be right," Caroline spoke up softly, ruffling Jeremy's hair affectionately when he shot her an affronted look. "I mean, you guys were in a rush to get out of there and Damon isn't exactly known for his awesome crime scene sweeping skills…there could definitely be something more to be found in Slater's apartment. We should go back and investigate." Her eyes lit up at the prospect of doing some pseudo-CSI exploration.

"One problem with that, Vampire Barbie," Jeremy retorted, moving away from her hand so he could fix his 'do. "You're on werewolf duty, remember? Full moon, Lockwood curse, Neanderthal asshole jock in need of your help?" He rolled his eyes for effect.

Rose couldn't resist a small smile over the top of his head with Stefan, both of them thinking the same thing: _He's spending waaay too much time around Damon_. It was obvious that Jeremy looked up to Damon, even though Damon was sort of an ass to him, and had killed him once, even though Jeremy's ring brought him back to life.

"You," Rose said, pointing her finger at Jeremy. "You with the quick comebacks, you volunteering yourself?"

Stefan's face quickly grew worried. He and Bonnie were trying to find a spell to help them get the moonstone back from Katherine, but so far they weren't having any luck. It would be safer for Jeremy to help them research rather than go gallivanting with Damon's new squeeze. "No, he's not going," he began to say, but Jeremy cut him off. "Hell yeah I am," he responded, giving Stefan a defensive look. "She's my sister, Stefan."

"And you're her little brother, which makes me responsible for you," Stefan protested. Bonnie nodded her head in agreement. She didn't want Jeremy getting involved in the supernatural world any more than he or Elena did, but after he'd dated two vampire girlfriends, it was pretty hard to keep him in the dark.

"What kind of weird vamp logic is that?" Jeremy countered, looking to Rose for assistance.

Jeremy's earnest desire to help tugged at Rose's heart strings and she sighed heavily. "I know I'm going to regret this," she muttered to herself, then glanced at Stefan. "He can come with me. I promise I'll keep him safe."

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Elena fidgeted in her seat as she ate her burger. After their intense moment in the parking lot, she didn't really know what to say to Damon that would break the tension between them, not that he seemed too concerned about it, anyway. She stared at him in annoyance as he nursed his water, looking vaguely disappointed that it wasn't the bourbon or scotch he usually favored.

"Shall I turn it into wine?" she finally quipped, munching furiously just so she had something to do.

Broken out of his thoughts, Damon's head snapped up. "What?" He looked confused. Elena sighed. "Forget it. It was a joke. Sounded funnier in my head." Damon paused, staring at her over the rim of his cup.

Pulling an onion out with her teeth, Elena sucked it into her mouth and closed her eyes with pleasure. "Delicious," she smacked her lips, shooting Damon a mischievous grin.

"Gonna kiss Stefan with that mouth?" Damon shot back, wrinkling his nose at the prospect of kissing someone with onion-breath.

"Maaaybe," Elena sing-songed, dabbing at her mouth delicately with a napkin. "Aren't you going to eat anything?"

Damon's eyes visibly darkened and he fought for facial control as his muscles twitched into his vamp-face. "Nothing on the menu appealed," he said shortly, hoping she'd drop it. He hadn't fed for a while, which had been a stupid move on his part, especially with all the evil they were up against. "Uh, listen. You finish up your burger, I need to go compel the cashier." It wasn't the best way he could have phrased it, but the burning desire to feed made him short-tempered.

It was almost comical how quickly Elena's eyes bugged out. "What? Why?"

"A growing boy needs to eat, Elena," he mocked as he stood up. "Don't you want me to grow big and strong?"

Elena stared after him as he stalked towards the register. She knew he wouldn't kill the girl, but she wasn't exactly thrilled to know he was going to snack on someone with her right there. She watched as he said something to the girl, who then dutifully said something about taking a break, and then they walked outside together.

A few minutes passed and Damon still hadn't returned. Elena passed the time by texting Caroline, asking how Werewolf Junior was faring this close to the full moon. Care's response was less than optimistic, and Elena fervently hoped that whatever happened, it wouldn't involve Damon "taking care" of the situation by eliminating Tyler Lockwood, which was a very real option in his mind.

Drumming her fingers against the table, she finally decided to see what was going on. She'd never actually seen a vampire in the act of feeding and something about it morbidly aroused her curiosity. She knew she should feel disgusted, and a part of her was, but a larger part of her wondered if the act was as intimate as her imagination and the media led her to believe. Stefan had never broached the topic of feeding from her neck, and she didn't really want to bring it up, so both of them just pretended it wasn't even an option. Unable to resist, Elena shoveled the last of her burger into her mouth and then followed them out.

He was so engrossed that he never sensed her approach. Elena's heart skipped a beat as she took in the sight before her. The girl, maybe in her early 20s, was draped over Damon's arm, moaning softly as his mouth assaulted her neck. It didn't take an idiot to see that he'd seduced her before biting her; her lips were swollen from his kisses and her blonde-streaked hair, so perfectly straight when she'd given them their order, was now mussed. _By Damon's hands_, Elena thought darkly.

The girl's leg was hitched around Damon's waist as he leisurely drank from her, taking her up against the wall like a whore. Elena cast a nervous glance around, wondering if he truly didn't have any shame, doing this out here for every Tom, Dick, and Harry to see.

The girl clearly seemed to be enjoying the bite, possibly even getting off on it, Elena realized. She felt vaguely disgusted, not because he was feeding from a human, but because he was…well, he had been all _over_ her. Elena turned and went back in, her heart contracting in short, painful spasms. She had no idea why she even _cared_.

The door swung open, letting in a cool breeze, and then the girl came back in, looking a little disheveled, but no worse for the wear. Less than a minute later, Damon re-entered and headed to their table. Elena feigned disinterest, languidly sipping her water.

How dare he stand there in front of her after what he'd just done? Elena knew that as a vampire, he needed to feed (not that she approved), but she preferred not to think about that aspect of his and Stefan's lives, and after such an emotional day, she knew that her anger towards Damon was irrational, but that knowledge did nothing to calm her. She wasn't disgusted with him for feeding but she was filled with an emotion that she wasn't ready to confront – jealousy. "All full?" she asked sarcastically, trying to mask her emotions by sucking savagely on the straw until the loud rasping noise of air against ice was heard.

Damon gave her a funny look and didn't respond, instead reaching for his jacket, which he'd hung behind his chair. "Let's go," he said, jerking his thumb towards the door. Elena had the oddest look on her face, he mused as he shrugged his arms into the leather.

Elena stood up silently, feeling a little deflated as she saw the girl give Damon a sexy wink as they left. As she waited by her door, waiting for him to unlock the car, she was stunned to see her face reflected in the window. It was twisted into an expression of pain; Elena's breath caught in her throat and she felt almost dizzy for a moment as she realized where she'd seen that exact same expression before. _Damon_.

Damon had worn that expression on his face after he and Stefan had rescued her from Rose and Trevor's clutches, during their first run-in with Elijah.

_Flashback:_

_Elena didn't think she was ever happier to see anyone in her entire life. Sheer relief filled her as she saw Damon gazing up at her with a smile that rivaled her own. From the corner of her eye, she saw Rose blur away quickly before anyone could stop her. As Damon made to go after her, Elena told him to just let Rose go, and miraculously, he listened. Giddiness swept through her as she dashed down the stairs, eager to reach him as quickly as possible and put this nightmare behind her. All she wanted to do was launch herself at him and find comfort in his arms. _

_And then…reality set in. One second, it was just her and Damon; the next, Stefan had come into her line of sight, holding his arms open for her. Irritation flashed through Elena as Stefan's arms quickly encircled her into their strong embrace. She couldn't help but feel as though Stefan's presence had ruined the moment, but guilt quickly followed the thought and she sighed, too tired to deal with the internal war that was raging inside of her. Instead, her arms came up to wrap around his neck and she inhaled his familiar, comforting scent. Stefan held her in a safe cocoon but she couldn't resist looking past his shoulder towards Damon, who was standing there with a tormented look on his face, as though the sight of her in Stefan's arms physically pained him. _

_For one impossible second, Elena wanted to mouth "I'm sorry" at him. She knew that from his perspective, it must have seemed like she had been racing to Stefan from the start. Instead, she parted her lips and mouthed the words "thank you" to him. A look of understanding passed over his face and he returned her unspoken words with a "you're welcome" of his own. Their eyes met, communicating what words never could. Subtly, Elena tried to disengage herself from Stefan but his arms merely constricted tighter around her. Hugging him back was a natural gesture, but she felt wrong doing it front of Damon._

Damon glanced at Elena as she got herself settled in the passenger seat. She looked a little sick and he wondered if maybe the stress of the day was finally taking its toll on her. "Elena?" he asked tentatively. Her head barely turned a fraction of an inch. "Elena," he said again, this time more firmly, touching her arm. It was a feather-light brush of his fingertips, but she jerked away as though she'd been scalded. "Don't touch me," she hissed, giving him an accusatory look.

"What's the matter with you?" Damon snapped. She knew what he was, he made no efforts to hide it, so why was she acting like such a bitch?

"You!" Elena sputtered. "You fed…on that poor girl, and you just…just…ugh!" She ran her hands through her hair roughly in frustration. Elena felt like she couldn't breathe and she knew that it was because of more than just righteous anger that came from Damon's inability to tell the difference between right and wrong.

Damon let out a short bark of laughter as he started the engine. "Oh, I forgot, I'm only allowed to worship the ground _you_ walk on, right?" He shot her a scathing glance. His entire world may revolve around her, but he sure as hell wasn't going to follow her around with his heart on his sleeve in the hope of some scrap of affection. His heart may belong to her, but he was still a vampire, and that meant he wasn't going to roll over for her and let her dictate his life.

He'd meant it mockingly, yet guilt washed over Elena as she realized that her jealousy was inappropriate. "It was just so… intimate," she revealed quietly.

His eyebrows came together in a puzzled frown. He wasn't even aware she'd watched them. Was she jealous? No, impossible. Elena wasn't Katherine. "Isn't that better than just attacking someone at random?" Damon asked pragmatically, pulling out of the parking lot, flicking his eyes to her. "She didn't feel terror, only pleasure, and to be perfectly honest, that chick was so hot for me, she didn't even require that much compulsion." He had the oddest feeling that Elena didn't really care about the girl at all but was just trying to pick a fight with him for reasons only her own hormonal teenage brain could fathom. "Besides, 'Lena, I'm more concerned about you," he quipped. "You're turning into quite the voyeur."

Elena inwardly groaned. He could be such a _guy_ sometimes. "It seriously doesn't bother you, rubbing up against a total stranger?" Elena asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Should it?"

"You forced her to do something she didn't want to do. You violated her mind," Elena accused, narrowing her eyes at him.

"No, I didn't," Damon said quickly. "Well, okay, I did. But only a little. I might have pushed her in the right direction, but I could sense her attraction to me."

Elena gaped at him incredulously. "And that gives you the right to make her your all-you-can-eat buffet?"

Damon sighed. He didn't like having this conversation because it made him feel oddly guilty, and that wasn't a feeling he had much experience with. So he said the one thing he knew would shut her up: "Why? Are you offering up a vein?"

* * *

**A/N: I know, I know, I'm evil for that cliffhanger. Ch. 4 won't include any Damon/Elena, since I want to try and focus a little more on the others to make the story more well-rounded, so you'll all have to wait til Ch.5 to see what Elena's response will be! Next chapter will be featuring mostly Stefan/Katherine with some Jeremy/Rose thrown in as well. Happy holidays, everyone! If you click those little blue words, that'll make my day.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Tis the season...for a new update! **

**Just to clear up a few things from last chapter, I sort of fast-forwarded through the Rose stuff so it wouldn't take too long, since she isn't a main character in the story. In this version, she fled Slater's apartment and headed straight back to Mystic (because she has nowhere else to go) where she was pulled into the Scooby gang's meeting. Thanks to EtherealDemon for bringing this to my attention, and my apologies for not making that clear in the last chapter!**

**I didn't make my 60 reviews goal, but a big thank you to all of you who reviewed. They make my day. Seriously.**

**Toffeenutlatte – I'm glad you found that amusing! I think Elena does a lot to subconsciously turn Damon on without even realizing it. AKA all the skimpy shorts and tank tops…**

**Onerepublicgirl – I definitely don't think that Stefan sees Elena as food, but since biting is such a primal part of vampire mating, I'm surprised it hasn't come up yet in the bedroom…unless he's biting her in places we can't see o.O**

**

* * *

**Rose was driving awfully fast, Jeremy noticed, gripping the seat handle tightly as she took a turn at almost 50 mph.

"All buckled up?" she asked cheerfully, pressing her foot down on the accelerator again until they hit a triple digit.

"Rose, my ring only prevents me from a supernatural death," Jeremy pointed out shakily. "A car accident wouldn't qualify."

"Oh." Rose released the gas pedal until they were back down to a sedate 60 mph. "Sorry. I should have been more careful," she apologized, actually looking worried. "I forgot how breakable humans are," she reflected. "When I slapped Elena she was knocked out," Rose laughed, shaking her head.

Jeremy shifted uncomfortably in his seat, disliking the callous way in which Rose was speaking of Elena's kidnapping. "Sorry," Rose blurted out again. "I'm really sticking my foot in it, aren't I? That was thoughtless."

"It's okay," Jeremy replied, gingerly releasing his grip on the handle. "I get it. It can't be easy, switching sides." At Rose's confused look, he elaborated. "From being a bad guy to a good guy."

"I'm not so very good," Rose objected.

"If you're sleeping with Damon, then obviously not," Jeremy grinned at her.

Startled, Rose could only stare at him for a moment before allowing a smile to seep across her face. "You remind me of Trevor."

The Gilbert boy looked surprised as she mentioned the vampire whom he'd never met. "Is that why you brought me along?"

"No," Rose shook her head. "They were treating you like a child. I brought you along because I felt sorry for you."

"So it was pity," Jeremy said flatly, turning to stare out the window, a muscle in his throat throbbing. Rose frowned. She'd once again said the wrong thing and she didn't know how to fix it. The boy seemed touchy, touchier than most humans, and the coddling of Elena's friends and boyfriend were harming him more than helping. The more they tried to push him out of harm's way, the more he pushed back.

"Not pity," Rose corrected. "I knew they wouldn't let you go alone and none of them could go with you, so I said I would go. Although I'm starting to regret it. You Gilberts seem to go looking for trouble instead of being sensible humans and running in the opposite direction." Her fingers drummed against the steering wheel as she chafed at the unbearably slow speed they were going at. For a vampire, 60 mph was child's play.

"Look, Jeremy. I don't even know you but I feel like I can sum you up in one word: lost. No," Rose held up a hand, "don't interrupt." Jeremy scowled darkly at her but shut his mouth. "You want to belong somewhere because you feel like you've never belonged anywhere in your entire life. It doesn't matter to you if it costs you your life, but it should. Human life is too precious to waste."

Says the vampire who kills humans for food, Jeremy thought inwardly, his face tightening. He was silent for the rest of the trip.

* * *

Everyone had left; Jeremy and Rose off on their road trip, Caroline god-knows-where doing god-knows-what with Tyler, leaving Bonnie and Stefan in the Salvatore's living room, poring over the grimoire. "Here's something," Bonnie said suddenly, tracing her finger over a line of splotchy text. "I can incapacitate her for a few minutes," Bonnie suggested doubtfully, pulling at her lower lip with her teeth. "The grimoire isn't too explicit, though, so I have no idea what the likelihood of success is."

Stefan glanced at the spell, then back up at her. "You're a Bennet witch, Bonnie. Just let your instincts guide you and the rest will take care of itself." His hand lightly rested on top of hers for a brief second, offering a squeeze of comfort. Bonnie's eyes reflected gratitude as she realized the depth of the trust Stefan had in her. Had it been Damon with her now, he would have made some sarcastic remark about how she was no Emily, she thought with annoyance.

She looked up at him through her eyelashes. He was so perfect and sweet and handsome and even though her witchy-senses were screaming "Vampire! Danger!" all she could think about was how impossibly lucky Elena was to be with him, even if the perfect Stefan package came with a sociopath brother, a venomous ex who was the spitting image of his current girlfriend, and of course the unspoken problem of his immortality. Bonnie realized that even though she and Stefan didn't see eye to eye on the Damon issue, Stefan was essentially a good guy who was only trying to protect what little family he had left.

Her heart squeezed as she realized that because of Katherine, Stefan had been denied any opportunity to be a father, a husband, an uncle. Bonnie mostly thought of vampires in distasteful terms but she knew with stunning clarity that Stefan was as much a victim as any of the rest of them, and the fact that he'd risen above the cards that life had dealt him spoke volumes for his character.

"I'll need something of hers, though," Bonnie said, scrutinizing the dingy pages of the book. "Do you have anything, by any chance…?" It was a stupid question; of course Stefan wouldn't have any remnants of Katherine lying around the house, not with Elena constantly over.

Stefan's eyes involuntarily flew to the stairs. In his bedroom was a portrait photo of Katherine, but the idea of handing it over didn't settle well with him. "What do you need it for?"

"I need it for the spell," Bonnie explained quickly. "I have to turn it to ashes. You'll throw that on her, and then you can go in and retrieve the moonstone."

"Just like that?" Stefan asked dubiously.

"Just like that," Bonnie said confidently. "It'll take her down for a few minutes, giving you the window of opportunity to snatch back the stone."

He didn't want to part with the photo but he dutifully blurred upstairs and pulled it out of the drawer where he'd hidden it. After Elena had spotted it after they'd first made love, he'd taken care to keep it away from her eyes. If she knew he had held onto it (still!) it would only raise uncomfortable questions that he'd rather not answer.

Stefan's fingers lightly caressed the photo, imagining his fingers stroking Katherine's dark curls, lightly rubbing his thumb over her lower lip…Good god, what was he doing? He pulled his hand back from the picture as though he'd been scalded. He was back downstairs in a fraction of a second. "Here," he said, thrusting the photo towards Bonnie, turning away just in time before the photo went up in flames.

"I can't believe Damon would still keep this," Bonnie said scathingly, watching as the edges of the picture began to curl up.

Stefan's eyes flew to hers. Of course. Of course she would think it was _Damon_ who had kept the photo. "Yeah," he agreed quickly – anything not to admit that the photo was, in fact, his. "Damon's disgusting."

* * *

"Come to rescue me?" Katherine's voice was lilting and sweet but Stefan could sense the barely-restrained violence and hunger that lay beneath the words. He'd made an excuse to Bonnie about needing to hunt, and had made his escape while she was still chanting her mumbo-jumbo over the flames. He'd meant to hunt, really he had, but somehow his footsteps had led him here, to the tomb.

"How rude of me not to offer you anything to eat. I'm such a poor hostess," Katherine continued, her voice echoing eerily in the darkness. Stefan couldn't see her, but he could sense her presence.

"You're a guest in my home, after all. If I'd known you were coming, I would have brought a bunny or two," Katherine whispered, finally emerging from the shadows. She looked pale and gaunt, and even the few gulps of blood that Elena had given her had long since left her system.

"I'm not here for small talk, Katherine," Stefan bit out. "I want the moonstone."

Katherine's eyes snapped. "Well, loverboy, it appears that the moonstone is in high demand, and since it's my only leverage on getting the hell out of this tomb, I'm not handing it over. The only way you'll get it is out of my cold, dead fingers," Katherine declared triumphantly, her hand tightly grasping the stone.

"That can be arranged," Stefan hissed darkly, taking a step closer to the opening.

Katherine's eyes widened in anticipation. Instead, Stefan came to a stop mere inches away from the opening, the invisible barrier between them the only thing standing between him and the moonstone.

"You tease," Katherine laughed, running a finger seductively up and down her left thigh. "Why don't you come inside and say that?" In an instant, her expression changed from one of amusement to a predatory gleam. "And here I thought we could pick up where we left off. I have missed you over the years, Stefan. You're an idiot if you think that starting a life with her will somehow make up for your inability to have one with me. Admit it. She's my placeholder. Elena and Stefan; Katherine and Stefan…we're interchangeable."

Stefan shook his head. "No, she's nothing like you."

Katherine snickered loudly. "You're only fooling yourself, Stefan. She's more like me than you realize, just without the flaws. I guess that must have been what made you love her, even though she has the audacity to wear my face. Although it does look better on me," she added, unable to resist an ego-boost.

Stefan's face vamped out. She was trying to get him mad, hoping that in his anger he'd fly into the tomb to attack her and as a result become trapped by the same spell that bound her. The rational part of his brain realized that but the other part just wanted to take that pretty little face and repeatedly smash it against the jagged stone walls.

His phone vibrated in his pocket and he dug it out.

_U must b close 2 the tomb. Meet me there. I have the stuff. U ready? –B_

Katherine's eyes darted to his cell phone with interest but she said nothing, simply watching as he put it away.

Safe in her prison, she spoke again, despite his rising fury. "It's just you and me here, Stefan. You don't need to lie. I know you still love me." Big brown eyes, so like Elena's, stared into his like pools of chocolate he could drown in. They begged him to listen, to understand. To _forgive._

"I'm not Damon. You can't trick me, Katherine." He could never let himself forget what a cold-hearted bitch she was, no matter what she told him. Katherine Pierce, or Katerina Petrova, or whatever the hell she was calling herself, couldn't be trusted. Not now, not then, not ever.

"But I did manage to trick Damon, didn't I?" Her lips twisted into a smirk that reminded Stefan of Damon's. It was easy to see that Damon had picked up several mannerisms from her during the short time they were together and he'd had over a century to perfect them, right down to the last eyebrow arch and lip curl. "That night on the porch, I can't believe he didn't realize I didn't have a heartbeat." The brunette smirked; thanks to Lucy and a handy dandy little spell, faking a heartbeat had been simple enough, but she wasn't going to share that with Stefan – that deception could come in handy again soon enough.

Her head swiveled and she sniffed the air cautiously. Human. Her eyes flashed to Stefan. "Dare I hope you've brought me a snack, kind sir?" she asked with the old lilt back in her voice.

It was just Bonnie. Stefan sensed her immediately and he knew that he had to wrap this up fast before she caught him fraternizing with the enemy. Stefan's hands grew into fists at his sides. "I'm tired of your mind games, Katherine. All I want is the moonstone."

"And all _I_ want is _you_, Stefan! _Just_ you. No more eternal threesome, no more Damon, no more sharing. I came back to my town to get my moonstone but also because I wanted to rekindle what we had back then, so that my plans for our eternal life together can finally come true."

"Always so selfish, Katherine," Stefan said lightly, not bothering to hide his bitterness as he noted the possessive way in which she spoke the last sentence. " 'My town, my moonstone, my plans'...," he scoffed. "Rekindling what we had? Compulsion doesn't work on me anymore so I think that might throw a kink in the works. All we ever had between us was lies." His nostrils flared. "Lies that you fed me, games you played with my mind so I'd be okay with the fact you were sleeping with my brother."

"I never compelled your love, Stefan, we've been through this! You gave it to me freely! You said you would love me forever. And in return, I gave you eternal life so that you _could_ be with me _forever_." Desperation made her voice crack.

"How was I supposed to know that forever literally meant forever?" Stefan whispered incredulously. "I never wanted to die, Katherine. I never wanted you to turn me. You took my life from me…and you had _fun_."

Katherine closed her eyes. "Then you might want to be more careful the next time you tell somebody you love them. I'm not sorry, Stefan. The tragedy is that I don't care. Maybe I should feel sorry, but I don't."

"Goodbye, Katherine," Stefan remarked shortly, shifting the stone back into place over the tomb opening, not wanting Bonnie to know he'd been talking with Katherine.

"No, Katherine," Stefan whispered softly, knowing she couldn't hear him, "The _real _tragedy is that despite everything, something about you makes me still care." He didn't spare her a backwards glance as he went back up into the sunshine to meet Bonnie, ready to fake his arrival.

Katherine's eyes flew open once she was once again in complete darkness. Of course, with her superior vampire eyesight, she could see in the dark, but it wasn't pleasant to be trapped like vermin. Speaking of...she could have sworn one just crawled over her foot. She sank to the ground, bracing herself against the wall, drawing her knees up to her chest in the fetal position. Her skin, already grimy and unwashed with dirt, began to itch unbearably as she thought about the slow and painful desiccation process. She wasn't yet at the point where the pain was unbearable, but she knew a few more days and she'd be writhing in agony.

She lightly placed her palm against the stone that blocked Stefan from her and almost felt like she could feel his presence. Katherine inched closer to it, seeking the comfort it brought her, resting her forehead against the rough barricade, biting her tongue until she tasted blood. Even though it was her own, she felt that familiar rush of exhilaration and anticipation of spilled blood, and the patheticness of it all made her want to weep. She was stuck in here…left to decay and die alone.

* * *

"Well, that was a bust," Rose said with a sigh, cracking her neck with an audible crunch that made Jeremy wince. It reminded him of Damon snapping his neck and even though he'd moved past that experience, sometimes it still haunted him.

"Maybe not." Jeremy held up his flash drive. "I copied over everything on his computer. I can go through it later and see if there's anything important on there."

Rose nodded, gesturing towards the door. "After you, Nancy Drew. We better get back before we miss all the fun," she shot him a grin.

"Nancy Drew? C'mon Rose…I'm totally Joe Hardy," Jeremy complained as they left Slater's apartment.

They fell into a companionable silence as they got back into the car, Jeremy's eyes fastened on the speedometer to make sure Rose didn't surpass the speed limit.

"Did you even take a driving test, like…ever?" he asked as they merged onto the highway, cutting off another driver who whizzed past them and shot Rose the finger.

"Hello, vampire?" Rose snapped her fingers as though that explained everything.

The minutes passed by in silence, neither wanting to break the harmony of the trip by speaking. They had just passed the "Welcome to Mystic Falls" sign when Jeremy murmured "I'm sorry". Startled, Rose's fingers reflexively tightened around the wheel. "For what?"

He tilted his head to the side. "For Trevor. I'm sorry you lost someone you loved."

Rose blinked back sudden tears, managing a watery "Thank you". By the time her eyes had cleared, it was too late to avoid the car in front of them that had careened out of control and was now driving in their lane. It was too late for Rose to swerve and move out of the way, even though she tried to avoid the collision. She dimly registered someone scream "Rose, look out!" But it was inevitable.

_Is he wearing his seatbelt? Oh god, Stefan will kill me….Elena will be devastated…I was responsible for him, he's going to die and there's nothing I can do to stop it…_ Rose thought wildly as the car pitched forward, falling into the dark, murky depths of the water. She tried to move, to shelter Jeremy with her own body, but the car's impact hitting the water tossed her against the window, her head crashing against the glass. A second later and the other car followed them into the water with a heavy splash.

Wickery Bridge had taken something from both Gilbert siblings once before. Now, it would do so again.

* * *

**A/N: This chapter got way longer than I intended, but hopefully it meets everyone's approval.**

** I took a liberty with Wickery Bridge's location, I have no idea where it is in actuality, but for the purposes of this story, I placed it at the entrance of the town.**

**I don't really like Bonnie with either of the Salvatores but I thought it might be nice to address that she doesn't view Stefan in the same way that she views Damon, despite her threat to bring Stefan down along with Damon if need be. **

**Plus, I felt a little sorry for her…I mean, come on, the chick's last romantic interest was with a vampire who was using her to get to Elena as part of Anna's diabolical plan to get her mother back…and her new love interest is nowhere close to as good looking as Sean Faris…and apparently he also stole the moonstone from her. Blech. **

**So what did you guys think of the Bonnie/Stefan interaction? Like it, yes/no? Anyone rooting for them to get together? I thought Rose and Jeremy are cute together too…honestly, the guy always seems to fall for the chicks touched by the supernatural.  
**

**Also, it was my first time writing as Katherine, so hopefully I pulled her off. This is a Delena fic but I want to lead up to it in a realistic manner, and that includes addressing the Stefan/Katherine issue, since I think Stefan is a little more in love with Katherine than anyone suspects, including himself. **

**As always, comments are appreciated and welcomed! I hope everyone had a very pleasant holiday.  
**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: This is the chapter in which we finally start to see Elena openly admitting her feelings for Damon, the one you have all been waiting for. For those of you wanting Delena time, this chapter is for you. (:**

**Thank you to all my reviewers, especially romancerevival, Lily, EtherealDamon, notenoughpotter, Black-White-Grey and Loolichou for your incredible show of support. See you at chapter 6!**

Last Time:

_"It seriously doesn't bother you, rubbing up against a total stranger?" Elena asked, raising an eyebrow._

_"Should it?"_

_"You forced her to do something she didn't want to do. You violated her mind," Elena accused, narrowing her eyes at him._

_"No, I didn't," Damon said quickly. "Well, okay, I did. But only a little. I might have pushed her in the right direction, but I could sense her attraction to me."_

_Elena gaped at him incredulously. "And that gives you the right to make her your all-you-can-eat buffet?"_

_Damon sighed. He didn't like having this conversation because it made him feel oddly guilty, and that wasn't a feeling he had much experience with. So he said the one thing he knew would shut her up: "Why? Are you offering up a vein?"_

_

* * *

_

"Your silence is damning, Elena," Damon said, never tearing his eyes away from the road. A long moment passed while neither said anything. Elena's hands were in fists in her lap, her lips pressed into a thin line.

"I didn't have you pegged as a prude, 'Lena," Damon mocked. "I know you're Stefan's drink of choice."

How would he know that? Elena stared at him in shock. "Stefan told you?" It was personal. It was _intimate_. She wrapped her arms around herself, embarrassed and pissed that Stefan would have told Damon about that.

Damon grunted noncommittally, shrugging as he overtook a particularly slow SUV.

"No, seriously, Damon. What _exactly_ did Stefan say?" Elena demanded.

"You mean besides the fact that he's using you as a human vending machine?"

Elena's hand itched to slap his face. It was sort of their thing; he said something offensive, she slapped him, and usually he let her. But not today, she thought ruefully, remembering the ache in her hand as he'd deflected her blow and warned her to never do that again. Still, her fingers twitched in silent defiance. "I shared my blood with Stefan because I love him," she pronounced clearly. "He didn't ask me for it. I offered."

Damon's eyes darkened. "_Willingly_," Elena stressed. She narrowed her eyes at him. "Not that I owe you an explanation," she muttered under her breath.

With a muttered curse, Damon pulled to the side of the road. He could feel Elena's questioning gaze on him as he turned off the engine, turning to face her. The thought of Stefan sinking his fangs into her while plunging in and out of her warm body sickened him. "Do you like it?" he asked abruptly.

Elena cocked her head at him, puzzled. "Like what?"

"The double penetration. The way he feels on top of you, groaning for his release as his fangs sink deep into your – "

_SMACK!_

His words were cut off as Elena flushed a deep red and brought her hand back to slap him across the face. It didn't hurt him, obviously, but his eyes flashed red all the same and he was looming over her in an instant. "What did I say about doing that?" he murmured, but without a trace of anger.

"You pig," Elena whispered, tears of shame pooling in her hopelessly brown eyes. "He never, _never_, drinks from me during sex." She brought her stinging hand to her chest protectively, glaring at him. It was like she was a giant cosmic joke, Elena grumbled to herself, clutching her hand close. The big guy up there was probably laughing at her, she thought ruefully, feeling woeful that slapping Damon hurt _her_ more than it hurt _him_.

Damon scoffed in disbelief. "Please, do you expect me to believe that you prick your finger and dribble it into his mouth or something?"

Her silence confirmed it.

Well, shit. This was an unexpected turn of events; he'd been so sure that Stefan was drinking straight from the tap, so to speak. Relieved, Damon exhaled air he didn't need. The thought of her and Stefan sharing blood while in bed together was almost enough to make Damon lose the last shred of control he possessed. The act of drinking from a willing human was an experience way more intense than just sex and definitely more intense than drinking from just _any_ human. Typically with bites between lovers, it connected them on a much deeper emotional level and was the ultimate "I love you". Thinking of Stefan enjoying Elena in that way tore Damon apart and made him want to rip his brother limb from limb. Slowly. And very, very painfully.

"Damon?" Elena whispered nervously. He was really starting to freak her out. The prominent black veins beneath his eyes and the red surrounding his irises just made the icy blue of his eyes stand out more visibly and Elena couldn't help but stare into them, entranced. He had always been a remarkably beautiful man and while she'd always been aware of his appeal, Stefan was her leading man, so her visual appreciation of Damon had always been one of those things she didn't fully notice. Aware that she was ogling him, Elena tore her eyes away with some difficulty.

Damon swiftly felt guilty for acting like such an ass to her, but his pride wouldn't let him apologize. Instead, he let the emotion drain from his face and let his face slip back into his composed human veneer. A mask. He gave Elena a brittle smile, his trademark I'm-trying-to-cover-up-what-I-truly-feel smile.

"Don't," Elena said suddenly. "Don't _do_ that." She recognized that look all too well; she inwardly scoffed at the thought that she knew him well enough to discern his facial expressions.

Damon strove for nonchalance. "Why, whatever do you mean, Elena?" he mocked, reaching for the ignition. Her hand darted out and closed over his.

"Don't, Damon," she said in a small voice, looking at him like she expected them to have a huggy-feely-bonding moment right there in the cramped car. "Don't hide yourself from me. I know it's not easy to hear, but with Katherine being back, I felt so disconnected from him. In some messed up way, I thought that…" her voice broke off on a choked sob.

His hand was stiff under hers but as her tears spilled forth onto her plump, rosy cheeks, he gave in and lightly placed her hand on his knee, his hand covering hers. His thumb rubbed idle, comforting designs on her hand while his eyes searched Elena's face desperately. "Thought what, Elena?" he asked softly, gently prompting her to continue.

Using her free hand to swipe some loose strands of hair behind her ear, Elena took a shaky breath, her chest shuddering. "I th-th-thought that Stefan and I would be able to go back to being the way we were if I sh-sh-shared this with him. You were the one, the one who said, who said," Elena stammered, sniffling loudly, "that he needed human blood."

Damon's hand tightened imperceptibly on hers. "I said he needed human blood, not _Elena_ blood." He couldn't believe she had taken what he said to heart and offered Stefan her own blood out of…what? Some weird, misplaced sense of girlfriend duty? His unbeating heart clenched as he fought to keep his jealousy in check.

Unable to resist, his gaze dropped to the wildly throbbing pulse at her neck. Following his eyes, Elena realized what Damon was staring at, and she let out a very maidenly gasp of horror. "Damon!" she admonished, giving him a disapproving look. "You _just_ ate." Her words made her blood run cold as she realized how desensitized she was becoming to Damon and Stefan's diet, if she could talk about blood as calmly as if it were a normal food.

"Damn it, Elena!" Damon swore loudly, reaching for her and cupping her chin. He didn't want to pounce on her, so he gave her every opportunity to pull away before his lips descended on hers in a scorching, passionate kiss. He poured every single ounce of frustration and worry and jealousy into his kiss until Elena melted into his embrace, her lips hesitatingly clinging back to his.

_Consequences be damned_, Damon thought savagely as he pulled her against his chest. She made a small mewl of distress as her body was uncomfortably wedged against the middle compartment between their two seats, but made no move to move away from him. Instead, she snuggled closed into his embrace, her fingernails scratching at his scalp as she clutched his hair.

Surprised to feel her slim arms winding around his neck, Damon could only smile against her lips as he felt the last of her reservations melt away. The small gesture of trust elated him, even more so when Elena parted her lips more fully to allow his tongue access into her mouth. Their mingled tongues fought for control, caressing and stroking together in cadence.

He'd never, not even in his wildest dreams, thought she would react this way to his spontaneous kiss. Uninhibited lust swept through his body like a cyclone. It was on the tip of his tongue to blurt out his love for her, when she pulled away to breathe. Her eyes were swimming with indecision and lust, and Damon didn't want to add any more to her already large pile of worries, so he said nothing. Her mouth opened and for one terrifying moment, Damon thought she was going to tell him it was a mistake and beg him not to tell Stefan, but instead she carefully rested her forehead against his, her chocolate-brown eyes staring deeply into his.

Lips parted, her tongue darted out to lick the bottom of her lip in a beckoning gesture which he was all too happy to oblige. He closed the distance of space between their lips and she moaned softly into his mouth. "Damon," she whispered softly, pulling back.

"Elena," he murmured in a low, husky voice that he almost didn't recognize, reaching for her lips again.

"No," Elena said quickly, wriggling out of his hold. "Stefan." Her expression was twisted into one of remorse, her eyes pleading with him to understand.

"Of course," he spat quickly, reverting to jackass-mode before she said something that broke his heart. "Don't worry, Elena, I'll keep this to myself. Damon Salvatore doesn't kiss and tell." His lust receded, humiliation taking its place. Here it was, the moment he had been waiting for; the moment when she came to her senses and decided she had just made a colossal lapse in judgement.

"Damon," Elena shook her head. "I just mean…I broke up with Stefan and I'm not really ready right now to get into something new. And even though we're not together anymore, kissing you still feels like I'm cheating on him." She sighed and brought a hand up to lightly stroke his jaw. Her lips were pink and swollen from his kisses and she bit her lower lip, noticing that his eyes followed her every movement.

Damon noticed that while she hadn't expressed regret or disgust with her actions, she also hadn't exactly confessed her feelings for him either. "I can't pretend this didn't happen, Elena," he reminded her.

"I'm not asking you to, Damon. I just…need time."

"Time to what?" Damon shook his head. "Time to figure out whether you're going to run back to Stefan or not?" He leaned in closer to her, his face oddly devoid of its usual arrogance. "I don't need time, Elena. I _know _who I want."

Elena's cheeks flushed but she said nothing. So she was torn between them both, Damon realized with a sinking heart. "I'm not sharing you with my brother," Damon asserted in a rougher voice than he'd intended, cupping her angelic face possessively with his hands. He tried to squash the inner voice of insecurity in his brain that was telling him Elena was going to run back to Stefan the second they got back to Mystic Falls.

"I'm not Katherine!" Elena exclaimed, giving him a dirty look. Then, a shadow crossed her face and she recoiled from his touch, looking insulted. "This better not be some kind of sick, twisted revenge on Stefan," she warned him. "I'm not some pawn in your tug-of-war power struggle with Stefan. Just because I look like Katherine does not mean history is doomed to repeat itself. I refuse to lead you on while part of me is still in love with him…so…that kissing thing, that was a onetime thing." Her cheeks heated as she recalled his intimate possession of her mouth and how natural and right it had felt.

"Until you choose me, right?" Damon smirked, cocky smile back in place. "Don't worry. I'm a patient man, I can wait." He thought about that for a moment and then realized that he wasn't actually a very patient person, but he dismissively brushed that errant thought away. When he loved someone, he was committed; as if spending 145 years loving Katherine wasn't proof enough.

Elena crossed her arms over her chest, huffing. "What makes you so sure I'll choose you? I could choose Stefan, or better yet, I could do the noble thing and choose neither of you so I'm not the girl who tore you both apart – again." She liked the sound of that, it sounded like something the leading lady in a film would do, but she knew she wasn't strong enough to lose them both to martyrdom.

Damon let out a throaty chuckle. "Elena, we both know you'll choose me. It's just a matter of time."

Before Elena could indignantly sputter a reply, her phone rang. Giving Damon her best we're-finishing-this-conversation-later look, she glanced at the caller ID before answering. "Caroline?" she said in confusion.

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There was a long pause, then a strangled sob. Caroline and Tyler had been in the woods when the ambulance sirens had reached her ears. For some unknown reason, dread settled over her and she followed the ambulance, leaving Tyler to get settled into the Lockwood crypt. She'd been totally unprepared for what had awaited her…

After speaking to her mother, Caroline had decided it would be best if she called Elena herself, and the Sheriff gave her approval. Caroline didn't want Elena to find out about Jeremy from Jenna, since it had been Jenna who had been the one to break the news about her parents' death last year – on the same bridge, no less.

"Elena…" Caroline stifled a sob, pressing her fist to her mouth in anguish, watching as paramedics draped a blanket over Rose's shoulders at the same moment that sheets were being drawn over two corpses on stretchers. Distantly, she heard the words "drunk driver", "dead on impact", "someone needs to call Miss Sommers, she needs to identify the body", "Caroline's breaking it to the sister", "how fast were they going?", "blood all over that poor boy's mouth", "it's a miracle the girl doesn't have a scratch on her". Her mother, Sheriff Forbes, cast Caroline a sympathetic glance as she led Rose away to get her statement.

Hearing the static of noise in the background, Elena pressed the phone tighter against her ear. "Care? What's going on?" Her heart began hammering, and not in the pleasant, lusty way it had been pounding five minutes ago. Her terrified gaze met Damon's concerned face, knowing he could hear every word thanks to his vampire hearing, finding a silent strength in his presence. "Caroline?" Elena nervously shoved her hair over her shoulder. "Is it Katherine? Did she escape?"

"No," Caroline whispered, whimpering softly. Now that she heard Elena's voice, she suddenly couldn't bring herself to inform her of Jeremy's fate.

Her patience snapping, Elena growled into the phone, "Okay, seriously, Care, what's with the cryptic? Spit it out already". Elena drummed her finger against her knee in irritation. The wail of a siren broke into her annoyance and she froze, her fingers hovering precariously. Something was wrong in Mystic Falls. "Oh my god…" she whispered, her eyes widening. "Caroline, please say something," she begged, terror gripping her heart.

"It's Jeremy…he's dead."

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_**A/N: There you go, guys. Hope it lived up to your expectations. And there's a whole lot to happen yet, so let me know if you're enjoying the journey! Thank you in advance for all those awesome reviews that I anticipate will be there (:**_


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: 21 reviews for chapter 5! You guys are the BEST, seriously.**

**I know a lot of you are probably on the edge of your seats waiting for Damon and Elena to hook up, but it's going to be a winding road to get to their happy (?) ending. I plan on sticking as true to the characters as possible, so Damon isn't going to be her lovesick Romeo any more than Elena is going to jump into bed with him right this second.**

**Stories in which Stefan immediately becomes the bad guy just for the sake of Damon and Elena getting together annoy me because not only is it unrealistic, it's also a shame, because he's a strong character in his own right and should be respected. Okay, getting off my soapbox now…/end rant.**

**Not to mention, I've been re-watching VD and I can't help but notice that with Elena, Stefan is usually all doom & gloom, but in his scenes with Caroline, he actually has a really genuine, happy smile on his face. Staroline is totally cute. ^.^  
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**Oh, and also, Caroline hasn't yet realized that Jeremy could be a vampire. She heard a paramedic mention the blood on his mouth but in the commotion of it all, she sort of forgot.**

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Elena's grip on the phone went slack and it fell from her hand as her face drained of all color. Instantly, Damon's hand shot out and grabbed the phone before it hit the floor. "Caroline?" he asked with authority, berating the blonde mentally for having delivered the news of Jeremy's demise over the _phone_, for crying out loud.

"Damon, you need to get Elena home. _Right now_. Jenna's been informed and…it's all just such a mess. Where _are_ you guys?" Caroline's voice frantically whispered.

"We're…" Damon glanced at the mute girl next to him. "Close," he finally settled upon. He hung up and pocketed Elena's cell, gently grabbing her shoulders. "Hey," he murmured softly, attempting his best to get some response out of her. Her eyes were hollow and lifeless when they finally met his gaze. Concerned, Damon smoothed some flyaways away from Elena's forehead, brushing them behind her ear. "Shh, it's okay," he whispered, desperate to give her some comfort even though she wasn't outwardly showing any sign of distress.

Damon had no idea what to do. Bad guys, evildoers, super villains…those were easy; if any dared to harm Elena, he'd just kill them. But this was something that was out of his control – death. He hadn't had much control over it when his own life had been taken, either, as a matter of fact. Damon would do anything for Elena, anything to protect Elena, but how could he protect her from the hazards of life? It was out of his hands, and Damon immensely disliked anything or anyone that had power over him – especially if that same thing had the power to hurt the girl he loved. Helpless, Damon could only offer silent comfort as he held her shoulders, trying desperately to read her eyes, but they were blank and fathomless.

Elena sat ramrod straight, her eyes uncomprehending. The truth was, she didn't feel anything at all. She felt numb and a little cold, probably because of the shock, but she didn't hurt. Logically, she knew she was devastated and grief-stricken, but only because her mind told her she should be. But as far as her emotions went, nothing made sense. The almost make-out session with Damon five minutes ago, case in point. It was a bewildering feeling that made no sense to her. Elena felt like now was the right time to cry, but couldn't summon the tears, and that inability alone made her feel disloyal to Jeremy. She didn't feel the urge to cry or scream; she just felt empty. Something had been taken away from her, but her heart and soul had yet to start missing it.

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_Ten minutes ago:_

A myriad of emotions danced over Rose's face as she pumped Jeremy's chest vigorously. Holding his nose, she blew into his mouth, but the effort was futile since she didn't really have a clue how to do CPR. Turning him over in her arms she gave him a thump on the back, hoping whatever water was clogging his lungs would come out. The guilt she felt was horrible; she was a vampire, for god's sake, her reflexes were supposed to be lightning quick, so why the hell had she let herself get emotional and endanger the precious cargo she had with her in the car?

The guilt clawed at her unbeating heart, second to only the blame she felt at having led Elijah straight to Trevor. "Jeremy, please," she begged quietly, smoothing his long locks away from his forehead. "Please, wake up." She gave him a rough shake and when that didn't work, she tried to simulate breathing again by giving him her own and then pumping his chest to get the oxygen flowing. It didn't work and her efforts at bringing him back were only crushing his ribs, she realized. Cautiously, she lifted his shirt, wincing when she saw the dark bruises marring his pale torso.

She couldn't read a pulse, but her emotions were all over the place and her hand was trembling too violently when she approached his neck to get a truly accurate reading. Her senses had gone into overdrive as she realized that she, for once, was at a loss at what to do. The other driver was dead, still submerged in the water, and Rose didn't particularly feel like fishing him out.

Giving Jeremy her blood wouldn't help him either, since vampire blood could only heal injuries, not suck water out of a drowning victim. Taking a deep breath, Rose steadied herself, gazing down at Jeremy's still face. He was pale, so pale, she realized. He couldn't possibly be alive. Once again she berated herself for not having gotten him out in time.

She supposed that her only option was to ditch the body and go back to the boarding house, but she somehow doubted she'd be welcomed there after everyone learned Elena's kid brother had been killed while she was responsible for him. Running a hand through her hair in frustration, she tried to make him more comfortable. Placing his head in her lap, she crooned some nonsensical nothings to him, more for her own sake than his. It was the only thing keeping her sane.

And then…_thump_. Rose froze, her fingers stilling in their soothing motions over his face. Thump. There it was again. It was a barely-there pulse, too weak for even the most advanced technological gadgets to pick up, and even for Rose it was hard to decipher at first. It was a miracle everything was so quiet; if there had been the slightest noise, it would have masked the heartbeat. "Jeremy," she breathed, shock reverberating through her tone. Gratitude flooded through her. _Thank you, God._

Without a moment's hesitation, she bit into her wrist, then forced it into his mouth. "Drink, damn you, drink," she begged, maneuvering her bloody wrist deeper into his mouth until he was forced to swallow or choke. His body deciding that the need to breathe was greater than his aversion to the metallic tang of her blood, Jeremy's lips closed around the wound, sucking weakly.

"You're dying." Rose's lips moved of their own accord and her lips pursed with the effort it took not to cry. A faint scratch on his forehead hadn't healed and his heartbeat was fading more and more with each passing second. Blood would do him no good; she'd given him more than enough to heal him and yet he wasn't healing, which meant he was at death's door already.

His eyes lolled in the back of his head and he looked like he wanted to cough for a second, but instead his chest just erratically rose and fell. "More blood," he whispered in a voice barely loud enough for even Rose's superior hearing to catch.

She shook her head. "It won't do any good, Jeremy." She fussed with his limbs, trying to make him more comfortable, her hands shaking with tremors. "The end result will be the same, whether I give you more or not." Rose pressed a fleeting kiss against his clammy forehead. With her blood now in his system, whenever Jeremy woke up, he would be a vampire.

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Damon hauled Elena out of the car and half carried her into the hospital. She was slumped into his arms and even though her heartbeat was strong and steady – Damon kept repeatedly checking – her eyes had never looked more lifeless. Her vibrancy for life seemed to have been extinguished, snuffed out like a candle. "Upsy daisy," Damon murmured against her soft brown hair, inhaling the scent of her strawberry shampoo. One arm steadied around her waist for support, he led her into the waiting area, where Alaric, Jenna, Stefan, Bonnie, and Caroline were waiting.

Stefan's forest-green eyes honed in on the position of Damon's arm, placed possessively around Elena's waist, but he said nothing. He moved forward slightly, expecting her to go to him, but Elena stood still, gazing off into the distance, looking lost. "Elena?" Stefan spoke cautiously, taking another step closer.

Ignoring him, Elena's gaze darted to her aunt. "Where is he?"

Jenna's hands trembled as she clutched a paper cup of steaming hot coffee. "The hospital morgue," she whispered, leaning into Alaric's embrace.

Only Stefan, Damon, and Elena's eyes were dry. Bonnie was holding onto Caroline, sobbing openly against her chest, while Caroline's chin was tucked atop Bonnie's dark hair, letting silent tears fall. Jenna's face was streaked with mascara tears and her face was splotchy in the places where the tears had washed away the makeup. Ric's face was composed but his eyes glittered with unshed tears as he held Jenna close.

Not without some bitterness, Stefan noted that everyone had someone to cling to for comfort, except him. He immediately felt selfish and petty for the thought, in light of recent events. In Elena's defense, she wasn't clinging to Damon, but neither was she pushing him away. Stefan shoved his hands deep into his pockets, wondering where exactly she and Damon had been and why she wasn't showing any emotion.

To be honest, even Elena wasn't sure why she couldn't spare a tear for her brother. She wasn't a cold person, and she loved Jeremy dearly, but the shock and emotion was so great that her body couldn't process the tears that she so desperately wished to shed. Stefan was giving her an odd look and Elena knew she should move away from Damon but she couldn't bring herself to do it. "Can I see him?" she asked instead, timidly glancing at Jenna and Alaric.

But it was Stefan who spoke. "No."

Everyone's shocked gazes swiveled to him.

"Elena, I just don't think that would be best." Stefan looked to Alaric for support, but Ric's face was buried in Jenna's hair as he cooed comforting nonsense at her. Everyone fell silent; the only noise was Bonnie's hiccuping sobs. Thinking the subject was closed, Stefan moved to Elena's side and gently tried to extricate her from his brother's hold, even though Elena's body was stiff and refused to budge an inch.

A little alarmed, Damon pulled Elena tighter against him. "Stefan," he began to say warningly, but then Elena's voice announced, "I want to see him," with surprising alacrity.

Stefan looked astonished, then quickly shook his head. "No, Elena, you're in shock. Please, just let me take care of you. I'll take you home."

Damon moved to stand protectively in front of her. "She said she wanted to see her brother," he repeated in a firm voice that brooked no interference, danger laced in his tone as he stared Stefan down. Elena was showing more signs of life in the last minute than she had on the ride to the hospital, and Damon wasn't about to let her lapse back into her shell-shocked state of mind just because Stefan wanted to wear the pants.

When it looked like Stefan was about to protest again and incur Damon's wrath, Caroline interceded, extending a hand to Elena. "I'll take you." The silent battle of wills between the brothers was palpable and Caroline had been watching the exchange with observant eyes.

Shifting Bonnie to Jenna's side so that the two girls and Ric were all in a group hug, Caroline quickly led Elena away. As she'd expected, her best friend had some questions about the accident and Caroline tried to fill her in to the best of her ability. "Um, I think Rose could probably be of more help than me," the blonde said nervously, pushing open a door and ushering Elena through. "But she took off after my mom got her statement and said she was going to lay low for a while. She seemed to think that, uh, Damon would have been out for blood."

"Stefan," Elena automatically corrected.

Caroline shook her head. "She was apprehensive about Stefan since she'd promised him that Jer would be safe with her, but since he's on a bunny diet and like, way younger than her, she didn't really consider him a threat. Damon on the other hand…" Caroline trailed off. "Well, she seemed more worried about what Damon would do to her." Pausing in front of the morgue entrance, Caroline rested her hand on the door, giving Elena a long look. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Without answering, Elena pushed past her. Inside, it was nothing like she'd imagined. She thought there would be the sick smell of death, but the room was perfectly clean and sterile, with no superfluous decorations, and a distinct lack of odor. She vaguely remembered someone once telling her that the bodies were refrigerated so no smells would permeate the air.

"There's no one in here," Caroline said with a frown, glancing around as she followed Elena inside. "Shouldn't there be someone in here?" Her eyes scanned the room for the morgue attendant she'd seen Jenna talking to earlier. Suddenly feeling apprehensive, she stayed close behind Elena as the brunette wandered aimlessly around.

And then it hit her. While the old, human Caroline would have cringed and squealed "ewwww!" at the thought of blood, the new, vampire Caroline felt her fangs elongating the second the scent of the crimson nectar hit her. She hissed with hunger as her senses also picked up on Elena's pulse, but she fought it down as Stefan had taught her, which was easier said than done when Elena's heart rate sped up at an alarming rate. "Care? What's going on?" Elena rushed to her – not the best thing to do when a vampire had their game face on – looking panicked. "These bodies don't have blood anymore, Caroline, why are you freaking out?"

Caroline's eyes darted to a closed door, every single one of her senses screaming at her that fresh blood could be found mere feet away. "Elena, no!" she exclaimed as Elena followed her gaze. Before Caroline could stop her, Elena had swung open the door.

"Jeremy?" Elena's voice was horrified.

"Elena?" The dark-haired boy pulled his bloody lips away from the man in the white lab coat to stare at his sister in dawning recognition. The body fell to the floor with a thud.

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**A/N: It's a proven scientific fact: reviews make me write faster.** **I welcome any ideas, suggestions, or thoughts you guys have on this chapter. :D As long as it's constructive, I'm of the firm belief that critiques will only benefit my writing and make the next chapter even better! Feedback is awesome & very, very much appreciated. (& it only takes a second to give!)** **By the way, if you're confused by the Rose/Jeremy scene (flashback), I'd suggest re-reading the end of the last chapter.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I'm utterly blown away by everyone's feedback from last chapter, in particular EtherealDemon, romancerevival, TabascoGirlie, Brynndabella, WhiteLine-Turned-HurricaneGirl, Black-White-Grey, toffeenutlatte, EclipsedWonderland & Lily for their incredibly thoughtful and sweet reviews. Thank you to everyone who took the time to review!**

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Elena's body shook violently as she saw the unnatural angle at which the body was twisted on the ground and she knew without a doubt that the man was dead.

"Elena…I…" Jeremy tried to find the words to say, approaching her.

"No, get back!" Caroline grabbed Elena's wrist and yanked her to safety, her own hunger springing to the surface as she felt Elena's hammering heart beat pressed against her back.

"I wouldn't hurt her!" Jeremy said angrily, holding his hands out in front of him to show he meant Elena no harm. "Elena, listen to me," he began in a pacifying tone, but Caroline cut him off. "For the love of god, Jeremy, clean yourself up. Can't you see she's distraught?"

Belatedly Jeremy remembered the blood smeared across his mouth and he swiped at it with his sleeve, but to no avail. With a muttered curse, he crossed the room to a sink and furiously scrubbed at his lips and chin. When he turned around, both girls were gone.

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"Stefan, this just feels too surreal!" Elena exclaimed, pacing back and forth in front of her dresser in agitation. "You and Damon blow into town with your fangs, Bonnie's a witch, then Katherine turns Caroline, and now my little brother?" She threw herself down on her bed, eyes closing in defeat. "And I can't even pin this one on Katherine or because you and Damon came back to this town, this happened because of -

Stefan grabbed her shoulders and pulled her up, looking deep into her eyes. "No, Elena, don't even think that way," he said firmly. "This was not your fault in any way, shape, or form. You don't get to blame yourself for an accident."

Elena stared at him with red-rimmed eyes. "It wasn't an accident," she said firmly. Guilt wracked her petite frame. It was karma. It had to be. The universe was punishing her for kissing Damon. Even worse - for liking it.

"Do you prefer to think of it as fate?" Stefan questioned, looking at her with dark, inscrutable eyes. "Does that comfort you? Does it help you make sense of what's happened here?" Stefan personally believed that all things happened for a reason, as part of some higher plan that mere mortals (and vampires) weren't privy to. In his mind, he thought that everything he'd went through, all the trials and tribulations, had been predestined to lead him to Elena because the universe knew they were meant to be together.

"I've never really believed in fate," Elena admitted ruefully. "It sort of makes it feel like we don't have free will, that no matter what we do, in the end we're all puppets playing out our parts according to some script."

Stefan's expression grew consternated. "Then take us meeting, for example, Elena. I fell for Katherine in 1864, I died, and many, many decades later I come here and meet you. Her look-a-like. And then I fell in love with you, my soul mate." Stefan's fingers grazed across Elena's cheek in the briefest of caresses. "What is that if not fate?"

Elena stiffened as Stefan spoke for his love for Katherine and his love for her in the same breath. _Geez, I'm not Katherine 2.0_, she thought with some annoyance, wondering if Stefan thought the fates had sent her to him to replace Katherine.

"Stefan, we were born centuries apart," she reminded him gently, taking hold of his hand and moving it to his lap, giving it a squeeze. "We were never supposed to have met; not in my lifetime, not in yours. It was a freak occurrence."

For some reason, the way she phrased it made Stefan stiffen. He looked at her with hurt eyes, his face contorting with such honest, brutal agony.

Not noticing, Elena plowed on. "Think about it. Every single choice you made from birth, the millions of different outcomes…they could all have led you away from me. If you'd made even one different decision, we might not be sitting here together today. If you think about it mathematically, from the day you were born, there was a massive chance you wouldn't meet me compared to the one-in-a-million chance that you would." Okay, it was more like a one in five trillion chance, but Elena had noticed Stefan's downcast expression and she didn't want to rub further salt in the wound.

"You _are_ my one in million," Stefan said earnestly, cradling her hand to his chest, giving her that adorable smile that made Elena's heart flutter.

"Well, well, little brother. Any more clichés you want to spew forth while I'm here?" Damon drawled, strolling into the room, giving Elena a dashing wink. She blushed furiously, pulling her hand free from Stefan's under the pretext of tucking hair behind her ear. Her chocolate eyes involuntarily lit up as he entered, watching as he crossed the room to stand in front of them like a stealthy panther.

"Knocking, Damon," she reminded him. "It's a popular trend that's been developing during the last few centuries."

Damon gave her a disgruntled look. "I'm a vampire. I don't need to knock."

"Call it common courtesy then," she shot back, her hands forming into fists at her sides. She had no idea why she was acting so bitchy all of a sudden. For one horrible moment when Damon had walked in, she'd felt guilty, like she'd just been caught with her mistress.

"I did knock," Damon lied easily. "You probably just couldn't hear it over all the boyfriend-girlfriend fawning."

"Eavesdropper," Elena muttered, picking at a loose thread in her comforter. She and Stefan weren't even _together_ anymore, and still Damon had to get his little jabs in.

"Hello, brother," Stefan said in a low voice, a muscle in his jaw twitching as he watched his brother and his ex girlfriend verbally spar.

"Stefan," Damon said shortly, nodding his head in Stefan's direction. He could tell his baby bro was itching to ask why Elena was so tense around him as well as the million dollar question: why had Damon and Elena come to the hospital together? He could practically hear the gears in Stefan's head turning as he tried to find a solution.

He could hear Elena's heart rapidly speed up. Damon gave her a wry smile, wondering if it was because she was affected by his presence, embarrassed to be caught all lovey-dovey with Stefan, or anxious as to whether Damon was here to blurt out their kiss to the Bunny Eater. Regardless, he mused, it was a better reaction than her usual icy "what are you doing here?"

Almost as if she could read his mind, Elena looked at him and asked, "What are you doing here, Damon?" Albeit in a warmer tone of voice, tinged with a bit of worry.

Typical, Damon thought with amusement as Elena's lips puckered in confusion.

"Is it Jeremy?" She was immediately on her feet.

Damon shook his head. "I'm getting him settled at the boarding house. He wanted to come here, but with you and Jenna in the house…" Damon trailed off meaningfully. "You probably shouldn't invite him in for a while. I doubt he'd hurt you or the Teacher's squeeze, but it's just a precaution."

"Is someone watching him?" Stefan spoke up.

"Caroline," Damon replied, looking worried. "Elena…I know this isn't the life you'd have chosen for him, and if it makes you feel any better, Jeremy didn't want this either. He's not the same messed up kid he was when he tried to kill himself in order to turn."

Elena's eyes clenched shut and Stefan's arms immediately went around her. He shot Damon a dirty look, returning his attention to Elena. "I think it would be a good idea," he said slowly, "if I take him hunting with me tonight. The earlier he's taught to hunt animals, the better."

"You mean fuzzy woodland creatures like Bambi's mom?" Damon added slyly, unable to resist adding his two cents.

Stefan glowered and was about to speak when Elena put a placating hand on his chest. "Actually Stefan, I was thinking…" she began hesitantly, looking at Damon with her dark eyes. "Maybe it would be better if Damon taught him."

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"WHAT?" Bonnie exclaimed with growing horror. "You want…Damon to teach…but…human blood, Elena!"

"I'm well aware that it's not ideal, Bonnie," Elena sighed. She leaned back against her pillow, pulling her teddy bear to her chest. "But you saw what happened to Stefan. I don't want Jeremy unable to control his urges. Right now we have to focus on Klaus and the rest of the Originals, and we can't do that if we're constantly babysitting Jeremy and making sure he doesn't fall off the wagon. We could do half and half; half human, half animal blood. That way he's not too…picky." Elena wrinkled her nose with faint distaste.

"Elena, it's Damon." Bonnie's eyes were wide. "I know you think he's changed but he's still a vampire, Elena. Unlike Stefan, he hasn't spent the last century trying to be a good person, well, good vampire. He doesn't know the difference between right and wrong. I don't think he'd be the best…" Bonnie searched for an appropriate word, "mentor."

Elena's eyes flashed. "He knows the difference between right and wrong just as well as Stefan does." The words were out of her mouth before she could take them back.

"You're defending him?" Bonnie was astounded. She knew Elena and Damon had some sort of weird bond going on but the heated blush in Elena's cheeks and the quick way she'd raised to his defense seemed like more than just friendship.

"Yes. No. I don't know, Bonnie!" Elena groaned, covering her face with the bear. "Damon has gone out of his way to protect us, all of us, and I can see a good person in him. It's always been there but it's coming more to the surface now." He was still as much of an asshole as he'd ever been, but some days, he seemed almost human. Elena sighed, knowing the thought of him being human was stupid; Damon hadn't been a human in almost two hundred years.

Bonnie gaped at her. This was unfreakingbelievable. It was like his recent change in attitude had erased every rotten, wretched, unforgivable thing he'd ever done. "He killed Grams!" she blurted out.

Elena's eyebrows drew together in a frown. "He didn't kill her. At least, he didn't mean to. She was old, it's not like he knew the spell would wear her out."

"She wasn't _that_ old," Bonnie muttered. It was obvious on the topic of "vampires are soul sucking demons" Elena wasn't going to budge, so she let it drop. "What did Damon say when you asked him?" she asked instead.

Elena ran a hand through her silky mahogany hair. "He was surprised. I don't think he actually expected me to ask him. Stefan threw a fit. Damon finally just took off and said he'd be at the boarding house whenever I wanted to drop by to see Jer."

"And Stefan?" Bonnie prodded.

Elena looked shame-faced. "I told Stefan that while I respected his choice not to drink, it would actually be safer right now for Jeremy to drink the human stuff. He'd be stronger and we wouldn't have to worry about him flipping out. I mean, look at how well Caroline's adjusted." Guiltily, she averted her gaze from Bonnie's. "Stefan left a few minutes before you came over. I think he finally realized that he wasn't going to change my mind, but in the end, it'll ultimately be Jeremy's decision. I'll support him no matter what."

Bonnie fidgeted. "He killed someone, Elena." Her tone was disapproving.

"You think I don't realize that? I caught the show," Elena said dryly. "It won't happen again." She couldn't help the uncomfortable voice in her head that was telling her that Bonnie would have preferred Jeremy truly dead than one of the undead.

Bonnie was silent, staring out the window. Half of her was screaming that Jeremy was a threat and needed to be eliminated before he hurt someone, but the other half was telling her to remember her _friend_ Jeremy, Elena's little brother, and realize that he was still in there somewhere. She was getting way more embroiled into this whole vampire business than she was comfortable with, and while she was all for helping Elena, she knew something was amiss when the majority of the people she associated with were undead.

"Can you make Jeremy a ring?" Elena's voice broke into her thoughts.

Bonnie pressed her lips together. Elena _knew_ how she felt about vampires. Her voice coming out sharper than she'd intended, Bonnie retorted, "So he gets an all-access pass to make Mystic Falls into an all you can eat buffet? Yeah, don't think so."

Seeing Elena's crestfallen expression, Bonnie quickly amended, "Not until he learns to control himself at least."

* * *

An hour later, Elena arrived at the Salvatore boarding house. Raising her hand to knock, she was pleasantly surprised when Damon swung open the door, clearly having sensed her arrival. "Hello, beautiful," he drawled flirtatiously, waggling his eyebrows at her, holding the door open in silent invitation.

"I thought we established it was just Elena," she replied lightly, entering. Their light-hearted banter was exactly what she needed right now to distract her from the craziness that was her life. Her back and forth teasing with Damon actually made her feel some semblance of normalcy. Glancing around, she couldn't see Stefan, Jeremy, or Caroline anywhere. "Where's…?"

"Living room. Stefan is giving him the do's and don'ts of vampire-hood," Damon quirked a brow as he headed into the kitchen. "He reminds me of Father during one of his lectures."

Elena smiled faintly at the thought of a tousle-haired Damon and a serious, chubby-cheeked Stefan and wished desperately they kept some family photos around the house, but considering their history with their father, it wasn't surprising that they didn't.

He casually opened the fridge and took out a bag of AB positive, pouring it into a glass. "Just grabbing Jeremy a little something to tide him over until dinner," he explained when he saw Elena's questioning look.

Elena leaned against the counter, watching his movements. "I'm sorry about springing my idea on you earlier."

"You were right," Damon said, draining the bag and tossing it into the trash can under the sink. "And deep down, Stefan knows it too." He shot Elena a crooked smile. "He just hates losing to me."

"It's not a competition," Elena protested, but she knew as soon as the words left her mouth that it was.

"So you really don't believe in soul mates?" Damon asked suddenly.

Elena blinked in surprise. "That was a private conversation."

Damon turned to face her, holding the cup in his hands with a thoughtful expression on his face. "You know, _we_ could be soul mates."

Elena couldn't resist laughing, but instantly felt bad when she saw Damon's eyes flash with hurt. "I'm sorry," she apologized quickly, a smile still playing on her lips, "but Stefan was trying to convince me of the same thing earlier, and I assure you, it's a losing battle. Soul mate implies we have something in common, and you and I…" She tried to search for something they shared in common. "Well, uh, we beat death-defying odds on a pretty routine basis," she joked. She didn't really want to get into the whole true love discussion with Damon; she'd only _just_ had her first (willing) kiss with the guy – she wasn't ready to start talking soul mates.

Damon rolled his eyes. "I'm being serious, Elena."

She bit her lip. "So am I. You thought Katherine was your soul mate too and you spent years trying to find her again. Everything you've done, you thought you were doing for love. So who's to say that she isn't the one you're destined to be with?"

"Maybe at one point I thought she was my soul mate, but that was a long time ago, and you know how that turned out," Damon said bitterly, clenching the glass so tightly that Elena half-feared it would shatter. "It was all fanciful adoration and infatuation that I mistook for love while I was human and it turned into an ugly obsession after I was turned." He gave Elena a heated look. "Did you tell Stefan yet?" he asked abruptly.

"No." Elena idly traced patterns against the counter top. "I haven't really gotten a chance to, what with my brother dying and all," she said in a reproachful tone.

Damon cleared his throat. "Yeah, I should get this to him. Cheers, Elena," he mocked, slipping past her and heading to the living room.

The rest of the evening passed fairly uneventfully, mostly consisting of Caroline acting like an overprotective mother hen, Damon making quips that he found vastly hilarious but no one else did, and Stefan looking on-edge and unhappy with the whole situation. Unable to take any more, Elena finally curled up against an arm rest and willed herself to go to sleep. Fatigue and stress took its toll and within minutes, she was fast asleep. Taking the opportunity to take Jeremy rabbit hunting, Stefan herded the younger two vampires outside, leaving Damon at the bar pouring himself his fifth drink of the night.

What was once a relaxing slumber had suddenly turned into a nightmare for Elena and she turned fitfully in her sleep, clearly distressed. Looking worried, Damon approached and draped a blanket over her body. His mind itched to delve into her dream to figure out what was disturbing her, but he was trying out the whole "common courtesy" thing that Elena didn't think he could do.

For now, he was content with just watching her. In her sleep, Elena looked younger than her age, and he could easily imagine her as a small child, falling asleep on the sofa in just such a fashion. Damon reached out to tenderly stroke her cheek as he'd done once so very long ago, but then drew his hand back in shock as she jerked awake. Her wide, frightened eyes landed on him, still hazy with sleep. "Damon?" She bolted upright, clutching the vervain locket Stefan had given her. "How did I get this necklace back?"

* * *

**A/N: Oooh, Damon's attempt at a deep conversation with Elena…sort of got cock blocked, eh? It's only because she doesn't realize he's in love with her, otherwise she would have been nicer about it, and she still has a little insecurity when it comes to Katherine.**

**And Stefan definitely doesn't have his trusting blinders on anymore, he knows something is going on but can't quite put his finger on it. Will the kiss be revealed to him next chapter? Still debating on that one…**

**And what's up with her dream? Has the memory that Damon took away somehow leaked into her subconscious? Hmm…. ;) Guess you'll have to wait and see!  
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**I'm the queen of cliffhangers, I know. It'll be worth it when you read the next chapter, promise. The next two chapters will be D/E, with Stefan possibly thrown in briefly if the kiss is revealed to him right now (drama!)…you know what? I'll let you guys decide. Vote! And as usual, I welcome any constructive criticism or ideas you guys wanna bring to the table.  
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	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: As promised, a Delena chapter! I've been posting nearly every day in order to get to this point as soon as possible. **

**I hope I did Elena justice. Of all the characters, I find that it's the most difficult to write her, and this chapter was a little bit of a struggle as I had to write from her viewpoint a great deal of the time. But all the same, I hope everyone enjoys! My muse for this story was Snow Patrol - You Could Be Happy (Damon's POV).  
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_It began in her bedroom. Elena didn't realize it was her bedroom at first, because it was pitch-dark around her, but then her eyes began to adjust and she could see in the blackness. The bleakness of the dream turned every familiar object in her room into a monstrous alien shape and Elena recoiled as branches swayed outside her bedroom window, casting shadows on her walls. She knew she had an important task to accomplish that her life and future depended on but she couldn't remember it. Brow furrowing, she reached for the door knob and almost instantly, the landscape shifted and she was suffused in light._

_Blinking against the bright yellow sun, she cupped her hands over her suddenly vulnerable eyes. It should have been a beautiful day, but the light had a terrifying quality and with a dawning sense of realization, Elena glanced down at her body to see wisps of smoke billowing around her. No part of her escaped unscathed; every single part burned in agony as her skin smoldered. The scent of burning flesh was enough to make bile rile in her throat. With frantic panic, she threw herself on the ground, attempting the stop-drop-and-roll, shrieking into the wind as she realized she was a vampire._

_As quickly as the pain had come, it vanished. She was in a maze. Elena gasped, coming face to face with Damon. But not the ethereally handsome vampire she knew, but his corpse. His skin was pale porcelain normally, but now it was an ashen gray, and he stood before her staring into nothingness with empty eye sockets. She took off running, looking for a way out but unable to find it. A loud scream echoed in her ears and it was only when her throat began to burn that she realized that the scream was coming from her._

_As she ran towards a destination her heart told her she would never reach, the space around her began to deform. Every time she thought she was close to finding the exit to the maze, she hit a dead end. Passages closed and new ones opened. Sometimes she thought she saw Damon's gray corpse running along beside her and fear made her run faster until she was bending over in pain, trying to catch her breath, evidently human again. Elena didn't know what was going to happen to her but she vaguely understood that it would be something terrible. Even worse, she felt like she deserved it. Whatever she was supposed to have accomplished, she hadn't, and now she would have to pay for her failure. She realized that nobody had told her what the task was that she had to accomplish, but the important thing was that she hadn't been able to do it._

_Elena closed her eyes, resigning herself to her fate, and when she opened them, she was staring into the bottomless depths of Elijah's cold eyes. "You have to pay, Katherine," he spoke in a low, gravelly tone._

_She wanted to scream that she wasn't Katherine but she was rendered mute by some unseen force. Her hand instantly moved to her neck. Her only protection, her vervain necklace, was gone. Elijah's hand closed around her throat, cutting off her air supply, and she choked. Her legs flailed as she kicked out, her hands struggling to relieve the unbearable pressure around her neck. "Please," she begged, but it was futile. Her last memory before losing consciousness was Elijah's mocking words._

"_It starts and ends with Damon Salvatore."_

Elena's eyes flew open as she awoke with a start. Her wide, frightened eyes landed on Damon, who was looking as though she'd startled him. "Damon?" She bolted upright, clutching the vervain locket Stefan had given her. "How did I get this necklace back?"

It made no sense. None of it did. She took a steadying breath, trying to calm herself. Elijah had ripped the necklace from her neck and flung it across the room, hadn't he? The only ones who would have thought to bring it back to her were Stefan and Damon, but why would they have hidden the fact from her that they'd done so? Why didn't she have any recollection of getting it back?

Damon was staring at her as though she'd suddenly grown an extra head. His dancing blue eyes were now perplexed and turbulent, his expression twisted into one of baffled surprise.

"Damon?" she whispered softly. "What if Elijah compelled me while I didn't have it? What if…" She buried her face in her hands, then raised her worried eyes to his. "I could be one of his minions or something now," she shuddered, feeling repulsed.

Instantly, his expression smoothed back out into its normal mask of arrogance and poise. Mentally, he was kicking himself. How could he have let this happen? It had been a sloppy move on his part to not create a sufficiently plausible story to feed Elena while compelling her. Noticing her probing stare, he answered quickly. "I figured you would want it back, so I found it and returned it to you later that night."

"When?"

Damon suppressed a groan. "Um, before you went to bed. I dropped by, we bantered, and you were really tired so you probably just forgot about it." He shot her a breezy smile, trying to deflect any further questions.

Elena broke eye contact, suddenly feeling uneasy. "Yeah," she agreed, trying to mask her emotions, "you're probably right. I was really wiped that night." Privately, she harbored some misgivings about what he'd just told her. It was highly unlikely that she would have forgotten a whole conversation, especially if it involved Damon Salvatore in her bedroom. With a rush of clarity, she suddenly realized what had happened. He had _compelled _her. That was the only explanation for her lapse in memory. Yes, she was convinced he'd done something that had required wiping her memory. She should have felt angry at the violation, but instead she felt a mingling of curiosity and hurt. She didn't like that Damon had compelled her, especially since it had been important enough for him to have taken without her consent. She wanted that memory _back_, and it hurt that he'd taken it in the first place.

Something in her tone gave her away and Damon looked sharply at her face, searching for any signs of doubt. Satisfied when he found none, he relaxed and flashed a cocky grin as his brother, Caroline, and Jeremy trampled in, the female vampire complaining loudly, "I just wish you killed the bitch instead of locking her in the tomb. I want to get on with my life without having to worry about Katherine coming after me for revenge!"

Stefan gave a long-suffering sigh, running a hand through his mussed chestnut hair. Elena couldn't bring herself to meet his eyes, so instead she smiled at Jeremy, trying to convey that she still loved him very much and that she was still his sister. Jeremy's eyes were unreadable as he stared back at her. His face seemed far more serious than normal and it looked like there was something weighing on his mind. Elena tilted her head to the side, wondering whether perhaps he'd been listening to her conversation with Damon.

"Stefan, I'm serious," Caroline huffed. "Her psychotic-killer smile gives me chills. _Chills_, Stefan."

"Oh, I'm sorry Caroline, I forgot that this was all about you," Damon said sweetly.

She shot him a dirty look and grabbed Jeremy's arm. "C'mon, let's go to a restaurant a few towns over. Weirdly, all that blood gave me a craving for a burger." Turning, she glanced at Stefan and Elena. "Coming?"

Expecting both of them to accompany Caroline and Mini-Gilbert, Damon returned to his notorious position at the bar, pouring himself a generous splash of whiskey. "Yes, Stefan," he said with wicked delight. "I'm sure you need something to get the taste of fur out of your teeth."

"I"ll pass," Stefan said dryly, moving to the stairs. Glancing back at Elena, he gave her an encouraging smile. "Would you like to come up?" Off in the distance, the front door slammed shut, and Caroline's chattering voice faded.

Elena noticed Damon's pointed stare and she knew he was trying to tell her that now would be the perfect opportunity to tell Stefan. But what was there to say, really? _Stefan, I'm sorry, but I kissed your brother, and even though we're not together any more, I wanted to absolve my guilt by telling you even though I know it will hurt you?_ Elena knew that just wouldn't cut it. It wasn't like she planned on dating Damon in the foreseeable future anyway. Furrowing her brow, she suddenly realized that she had no idea what Damon had in mind either. In the car, was he talking one night stand, a fling, a relationship…what? Thinking back, Elena realized that Damon hadn't clarified what kind of relationship he had in mind.

To Elena's everlasting shame, she'd seen the kiss coming and done nothing to stop it. In fact, she'd wanted it, encouraged it, even. When they were in the car, it was like it had been another world. A world in which she was blissfully unaware of vampires, Mystic Falls was a vague dot on a map, the Katherine/Damon/Stefan love triangle had ceased to exist – it had just been Damon and Elena kissing because it felt right. But now that they were back, Elena had to get her head on straight. He wanted her, lusted for her, but it was probably just because he thought of her as some cheap imitation of Katherine, or worse, because he wanted bragging rights later on when he told Stefan of their exploits.

Nausea swept over her. What if that was what it had all been about? Some sick attempt at getting history to repeat itself in the 21st century? She wouldn't put it past him, even though the logical part of her argued that Damon wasn't that kind of person, erm, vampire, anymore. She knew Damon cared about her, cared a lot, but she wasn't ready to date him (not that she thought _he _wanted that either) and was quite frankly a little suspicious at his motives for wanting her to tell Stefan. Especially since he hadn't offered her any assurances of what would happen _after_ she told Stefan.

"Ummm," she stalled for time as Stefan's expression changed from encouraging to confused. She'd taken an oddly long time to come up with a reply and she could see that Stefan was concerned, so to put his mind at ease, she gave him a small smile. "Yes, Stefan. I'll be up in a few minutes. Let me just grab something to drink first?"

Looking happier, Stefan nodded and went up.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the passenger seat of Caroline's Dodge Charger, Jeremy pulled out his phone and sent a speedy text to Elena.

_From: Jeremy_

_Msg: Damon's lying. And I can prove it._

He hit Send, then sat back in his seat as he listened to Caroline resume her rambling about her messed-up situation with Matt.

* * *

Moving into the kitchen with Damon trailing behind her, Elena pulled open the fridge and pulled out one of the Coke cans that Stefan kept stocked specifically for her. "Brava," Damon clapped sardonically, smirking. "Beautiful performance. He didn't suspect a thing." He blurred behind her, brushing against her back, nipping lightly at her earlobe.

"Stop it," she shoved at his chest. "He can hear us."

"Not on his diet," Damon scoffed, rolling his eyes.

Elena popped the tab and raised the can to her lips, swallowing deeply, needing a moment to gather her courage before confronting Damon. "So what happens next?"

Confused, Damon stared at her. "Next?"

"Yeah, you know. I mean, did you want to date me? Like, properly?" She hated how hopeful and needy her voice came out and she wanted to kick herself for asking such a juvenile question.

"Date you?" Damon's mouth dropped open, resembling something akin to shock, or as shocked as a vampire as old and jaded as Damon could be, at any rate.

Elena's heart sank. She should have known. Even though dating him didn't rank high on her list of priorities right now, and filled her with a wild sense of shame and lust, his reaction just made it painfully clear to her that Bree had been right - Damon was a walk-away Joe, the love 'em and leave 'em type. "Never mind," she muttered, brushing past him.

He sidestepped her so he stood in her way, blocking her escape route. He wanted to be with her more than anything, but the whole point of erasing her memory of his love for her was so that she wouldn't have to choose between him and Stefan. In his one moment of selfless behavior, he'd done the noble thing, but now he couldn't help but wonder if it was truly so selfless; right now, it seemed inexcusably selfish to have taken away her free will just so that it would avoid some unpleasantness. Especially now that Elena seemed attracted to him in return...it all made Damon's head spin. What was the point of his sacrifice if it meant she had come to care for him anyway? In either case, Stefan would get hurt, and while Damon would have once been perfectly content with that, the thought of "stealing" Stefan's girl disturbed him. "Elena, I thought you told me you weren't ready to jump into anything just yet," he reminded her, looking torn.

"I'm not!" she hastened to explain. "I just wanted to make sure your intentions were honorable."

"Honorable intentions?" Damon's eyebrow rose to a theatrical height that might have been comical if it weren't for the seriousness of the situation. "How 1864 of you," he teased, his signature grin flashing across his face.

"I'm serious, Damon. I'll tell Stefan about our kiss because he deserves the truth, but if you want anything more with me…" Elena trailed off, biting her lip nervously. "I'm not ready to be in a relationship but I can promise to give you a fair chance to woo me, in time, if you want to see where this leads."

"Are you kidding me?" Damon chuckled. "Woo you? I'm not Prince Charming, Elena. Can you imagine it? Damon and Elena at the movies, Damon and Elena holding hands…" He made a sickened face. "It's all just too cliché for words." But all the same, his heart sped up a bit at the thought of being able to officially call Elena his.

"So you're saying that the idea of being my boyfriend is totally and completely out of the question?"

Damon frowned at her. "You just said you didn't want me to be your boyfriend." He grinned at her. "You're acting a wee bit irrational, Elena," he teased, smirk still fastened firmly in place. He suddenly wanted to act like a prick to her so he can push her away, far enough away that he can resist the temptation to kiss her senseless once again.

Giving him a frustrated look, Elena shook her head. He was incorrigible! He made her so _crazy_. "Ugh, forget it, Damon," she mumbled, storming past him, hoping the anguish and embarrassment wasn't evident on her face.

He let her go, feeling bereft without her presence. He had the sneaking suspicion that his reaction to her question hadn't been what she had wanted but by the time he decided to go after her to finish the conversation, she was already at Stefan's door, pushing it open. Knowing he could easily listen to everything they were saying, Damon settled himself on the sofa that Elena had just been laying on, still warm from her body heat, and he inhaled the sweet aroma of her that still lingered in the pillows.

* * *

As soon as Elena entered, Stefan moved towards her, holding her hands tightly in his grasp. "Oh Elena, this has been an awful day for you," he murmured, peering at her with concerned, loving eyes.

Stefan's easy love was such a stark contrast in comparison to the ambiguous nature of Damon's feelings for her. Which just made what she was about to do even harder. Gently pulling free from his hold, Elena took a deep breath. "Stefan, I have to tell you something," she said, trying to keep her voice steady.

Stefan smiled beatifically. "You want to get back together?"

_God, how awkward_. Cringing, Elena shook her head. "Stefan…Damon and I kissed. I am so, so, so sorry," she said hoarsely, tears welling up in her tormented brown eyes. "Say anything you want. I deserve it." She waited with baited breath, bracing herself for his anger.

It never came. Instead, his fingers tilted her chin up, meeting her eyes. "Elena, it's okay," he said gently. "I'm not mad."

Elena blinked. She'd come here to throw herself on his mercy, and instead he was taking it far more calmly than she'd expected him to. Instead of erupting with anger, his reaction was kindness personified, which just made her feel worse. It would have been better if he'd yelled and ranted at her.

"It's understandable that you'd let your guard down with him. You've been spending a lot more time together lately." Here Stefan paused, as though the words were distasteful. "I should have seen it coming. Every time I start to trust him again, as a brother, he does something to make me regret it. He was bound to have done something like this, and I'm sorry, Elena. I didn't think he'd be insensitive enough to take advantage of you while you were still dealing with the aftershock of Jeremy."

Comprehension flooded Elena. As usual, Stefan had put two and two together, and come up with the wrong answer. He was under the impression that Damon had put the moves on her while she was distressed about Jeremy…Elena bit her lip. Of course Stefan wouldn't have even considered the thought that loyal Elena would have returned Damon's impassioned kiss with equal fervor, because it was simply easier for him to paint his brother as the bad guy. She was about to correct him but then his lips pressed against hers in a chaste kiss. "Elena, it's okay. I don't blame you," he whispered softly against her lips.

His words, instead of filling her with relief, just escalated the horrible guilt she was feeling. He thought she was a victim, when in fact she'd been an eager participant in the kiss.

"Why don't you spend the night here? I can call Alaric and let him know that you'll be here tonight," Stefan suggested. Elena nodded mutely, feeling a little detached as she watched him make the call. His inherent goodness suffocated her with guilt and shame. It didn't escape her that as conflicted as she was about the whole Damon situation, most of her feelings involved dirty shame at being attracted to Stefan's devious and dangerous older brother.

"Jenna wasn't too pleased to hear you're staying here," Stefan said after he hung up, looking abashed. "Apparently she's a mess." His face twisted into sympathy for Elena's Aunt, who was still in the dark about all things supernatural, and still believed Jeremy to be dead.

"It's understandable. Jeremy died today as far as she knows," Elena murmured softly, pulling back Stefan's sheets and crawling into his bed. He got in on the other side of her, and ever the gentleman, made sure not to touch her since they were technically broken up still, leaving a decent-sized gap of space between them. Elena placed her cell phone on his night stand and noticed she had one unread message. Deciding not to open it until morning, she murmured a goodnight to Stefan and snuggled into a comfortable position, letting her eyes fall shut.

He waited until her breathing had relaxed into a steady pace before lightly trailing his fingers through her hair, whispering, "I love you, Elena."

In her sleep, Elena's lips curved into a smile as she nestled into Stefan's pillow. "Mmm," she moaned lightly in her sleep, turning her body to face him.

Taking this as encouragement, Stefan's fingers ghosted over her cheek in a loving caress. To his joy, she nuzzled against his hand, but her next words made him freeze faster than if somebody had poured ice-cold water on him.

"I love you too," she breathed softly, "Damon."

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**A/N: Poor Stefan. I legitimately felt bad for him in this chapter, but I felt like this was something that needed to happen to jolt everyone into a wakeup call.**

**As far as Damon and Elena…c'mon, you didn't seriously think it would be THAT easy for them, didja? Damon doesn't think he can give Elena a normal, human relationship and Elena is convinced that he's hiding something from her, which makes her behave a little...well, irrationally, as Damon said.  
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**And of course, there's Jeremy…finally being useful! Wonder what on earth he has to tell Elena about Damon…don't worry, I'll spill soon. ;)**

**Until then, however, reviews are hugely appreciated and a big thank you to everyone who has stuck with this story!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: This chapter is longer than usual. It really got away from me but I was enjoying it so much that I couldn't bring myself to stop. I originally intended for it to be Delena fluff but I ended up making it a bit more angsty, because I wanted to get Stefan out of the way. And don't worry, I didn't forget about Katherine…dun dun dun. Writing her makes me want to do a Katherine/Stefan fic…**

**HAPPY NEW YEAR! Let's hope 2011 is badassier (not a word, I know!) than 2010 was, yeah?**

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The sunlight that filtered through Stefan's curtains landed squarely in Elena's eyes, and with a low groan, she slowly awoke. Stretching her limbs, Elena blinked into the light, feeling every single emotion from yesterday rush through her again, wiping out the relaxed sense of calm she'd been experiencing from sleep. Turning, she opened her mouth to wish Stefan a good morning, but was met with empty sheets. Puzzled, she ran her hand over them. Cold. Biting her lip, she pulled herself out of bed and headed for the bathroom.

Ten minutes later, she emerged, all evidence of chin drool and morning breath washed away. She would have liked to have taken a shower, but she didn't have an extra set of clothing to change into, and the thought of putting on the same grimy garments from yesterday on her freshly-washed body wasn't appealing.

Elena was peering through their fridge when she felt the rush of wind behind her, and she whirled around, clutching a carton of orange juice to her chest. "Oh, it's you," she breathed with relief, giving Damon a small smile. "Good morning."

Damon could only stare at her in patent disbelief. She was acting so…normal. Considering that Stefan had left last night without a backwards glance, he was surprised she hadn't flown into a tizzy yet. "Good morning," he replied cautiously, sliding into a seat at the table. Elena joined him, nervously interlocking her fingers together. "Where is he?" she finally blurted out.

Damon gave a half-hearted shrug. "Half way to Timbuktu?" he suggested wryly.

Elena didn't even crack a smile. "You're not funny, Damon."

"Yes, I am."

The next few minutes were passed in companionable silence, the only noise coming from the small glugging noises that Elena made when she swallowed her juice. "So, seriously, where did he go?"

"I'm not my brother's keeper, _Elena_," Damon said with a degree of annoyance. Was she seriously that dim-witted not to realize what she'd said to chase Stefan off?

"He's probably trying to do that spell he and Bonnie were interrupted from doing before," Jeremy yawned, entering the kitchen.

Elena frowned. "What spell?"

"Something to incapacitate Katherine so he could go in and get the moonstone. Bonnie said she and Stefan never got a chance to do it because Caroline called her and said I was, uh, dead. Hey, is that O.J.?" Jeremy asked nonchalantly, swigging the last of what was in Elena's glass as he scratched his abs.

"_What?_ That's dangerous, Jeremy!" Elena exclaimed. "Why didn't I know about this?"

"You were off being playing hero and trying to get yourself killed while I was _actually_ being heroic trying to save your ass," Damon reminded her, wondering what kind of weird universe he was in where he was having –shudder– family breakfast with the Gilberts.

Jeremy massaged his temples and looked longingly at the fridge. "Hey, Damon, mind if I…?"

Damon heaved a sigh, but obligingly got up and tossed Jeremy a blood bag from the fridge, ignoring Elena's grossed out look. "Is this the new half-way house for newbie vampires?" he grumbled as Caroline walked in chirpily, gracing them all with a bright smile and an alarmingly pink outfit.

"Good morning to you too, _Demon_," she teased, her lips twisting into a smile as she too grabbed a bag from the bridge. "Oooh, O+," she said with relish, ripping it open. "My favorite."

"Get a glass," Damon barked. "Drinking from the bag is so…uncouth," he shuddered.

"Yes, Dad," Caroline and Jeremy chimed in together, shooting each other exuberant grins and a matching chorus of "Jinx!"

"Is this the frickin' Brady Bunch? Am I in bizarro world? In a really bad Lifetime movie?" Damon demanded, standing up. "Elena, a word?" He motioned for her to follow him as he left the room.

Elena put her glass in the sink and followed him. "What's up?" she asked pleasantly, but was cut off with a gasp as Damon flew at her and trapped her against the wall, his arm holding her firmly in place as he loomed threateningly above her. "What are you doing?" she demanded, her heart hammering from the shock rather than fear. She knew he would never hurt her knowingly, barring the Jeremy incident.

"Why is it that you could confess it to Stefan before you said it to me?"

She frowned, looking adorably nonplussed. "Confess what? The kiss?"

"No, that you loved me!" Damon hissed at her, his lips mere inches from hers. Damon's eyes darkened and the veins under them pushed to the surface – the blood rushing to his eyes as his canines extended, but he managed to fight them back with great force of will.

_If I tilt my lips upward about an inch, my lips would be on his…_Elena thought, unconsciously biting her lower lip, then shook herself out of it, trying to focus on what he was saying. "I love you?" she blinked at him, eyes wide.

If he noticed the surprise and question in her voice, he didn't comment on it. Damon's expression softened, but he didn't release her. "I have no idea where Stefan the Bunny Slayer is, but after that little bombshell you dropped on him last night, can you blame him for taking off?" He sent her a lascivious wink. "Obviously, you've traded up. Moved on to bigger and better things," he leered with a significant glance at his crotch, doing that eye-thing.

Elena's lip biting had now turned into frantic chewing. His words completely threw her and she opened and closed her mouth like a guppy as she tried to think of something intelligent to say, which was hard to do when he was standing so close and smelling so good. "Damon…clearly I'm missing something. What the hell are you talking about?" she finally managed to get out.

* * *

Elena's feet were looking for solitude, a quiet place to cry and scream and try to fix things with Stefan, but somehow she ended up at Katherine's tomb.

It all lead back to Katherine. _Typical_. She was the catalyst who set events in motion, who had set Damon and Stefan on their own paths of damnation from the moment they'd met her. The one who had everyone fooled; those who didn't know her loved her blindly and the ones who knew the monster within loved to hate her. It was a curious combination of hate-love for both Stefan and Damon, and Elena was struck for the first time as she looked at Katherine…why could both boys care for her so much when she had the face of the viper who had effectively ended their lives so many years ago?

The mirror images sat opposite each other, their eyes watched the other's movements.

Stefan had been unreachable; his phone kept going to voice mail no matter how many times Elena called or how many worried text messages she sent. _I guess he'll contact me when he can_, Elena thought, glancing at her phone for the last time, saddened to see no reply from Stefan. There was one from Jeremy, however, and it was super cryptic. What had Damon lied about? Her brow furrowed, trying to make sense of it. _I'll just ask Jer when I get back to the boarding house_, she decided.

After what Damon had revealed to her about her sleep-talk confession last night, she could well understand the sense of betrayal Stefan had been experiencing. She was sorry for it, truly, but not _as_ sorry as she should have been. In her mind, she kept trying to justify it: wasn't this the same betrayal as finding Katherine's photo the night she and Stefan had consummated their relationship? Wasn't it the same betrayal?

Besides, it was just the ramblings of sleep, anyway. Elena certainly did not love Damon, in this universe or in any other. She took a deep breath. _Get a grip, Elena_, she reminded herself firmly. She was confident that all she had to do was explain this calmly to Stefan and he would come around.

Jamming her cell phone into her pocket, Elena silently removed a cup and a tall water bottle filled with Damon's blood contraband. While she really didn't want to nourish the evil bitch, it was the price she had to pay in order to squeeze Katherine for the info she needed.

Katherine regarded Elena through hooded lids, like Elena was a particularly fascinating bug under a microscope. It was a depressing thought to see that not just one, but both, of the Salvatore brothers had fallen for her inferior human doppelganger, Elena fucking Gilbert. And she, Katherine, was stuck in this godforsaken tomb being bribed for info with stale blood bag shit that made the roof of her mouth itch.

"This is disgusting," Katherine spat, but nonetheless extended the cup back out to Elena for a refill.

Patiently, Elena sat on her haunches and carefully scraped the cup back to her with a long stick. Once it had safely made it over the barrier she tipped some more blood into it, Katherine's eyes watching her every move greedily. "How can we defeat Klaus?"

Oh, this was rich. "Stop Klaus?" Katherine cackled gleefully, the sound grating like sandpaper. "Dear sweet, naïve Elena, if it was that simple to pop the bastard off, don't you think I would have done that a long time ago instead of running every time he got too close on my trail?"

Elena said nothing, her dark eyes fixated on Katherine. "You're not looking so well, Kat," she replied sweetly. "If you want to postpone your desiccation by a few days, I'd really suggest being a little more helpful." Tauntingly, she waved the bottle of blood at her ancestor, knowing that it was the only weapon in her arsenal capable of making Katherine talk.

"Oooh, kitty wants to play?" Katherine sneered. "Fine. You can't beat Klaus. No one can. He's an Original. And if he wants you, there's pretty much nothing you can do to stop it." With a calculating smile, Katherine added, "Oh, you can delay it all you want, you can do your little witchy spells, you can kill off the minions he sends after you, you can hide behind Stefan's skirts, but all of that just pisses him off. He will come after your friends and your family and he'll kill them just because he can. To show you that he will stop at nothing and no one in order to get the Petrova doppelganger, and that, sweetheart, is your curse." Her hand shot out, demanding that she be rewarded for her honesty.

Grudgingly, Elena used the stick to prod the cup towards Katherine, and quick as a whip, Katherine's emaciated hand snatched it and drank it with an insatiable hunger. "Why does Klaus care? If he's an Original, he can walk in the sun," Elena argued.

"Yes, but the rest of his little vampire army can't." Katherine raised a thin, arched brow. "I'm sure it's all part of his great master plan, to terrorize the world by spilling Petrova blood on the moonstone, and freeing all vampires from the curse of the sun. Imagine the havoc that would cause," she murmured dreamily, lost in a world in which chaos reigned supreme and humans were nothing but Happy Meals on legs.

Elena slumped slightly, her spine still straight, but her shoulders sagging with defeat. "What does Klaus look like?" she asked, pulling the cup back and pouring another skimpy portion of blood into it.

"Now that would be telling," Katherine said slyly, smirking at Elena with a feral smile that reminded her of the creepy Cheshire cat from the Alice in Wonderland animated movie she'd seen as a kid.

As much as she disliked her human descendant, Katherine didn't want her dead. Well, Katherine didn't really care too deeply about her one way or the other, but for her bloodline to continue, Elena would have to survive and live long enough to eventually bear a child. Not to mention, if Klaus got his hands on her and used her to break the curse…well, that opened up a whole new can of worms that didn't bear thinking about. Katherine liked being on top; the one with all the power, the one able to walk in the sun…it was an advantage that no other vampires had other than Stefan and Damon, and they were daywalkers only because of her. If it meant her bloodline would die out in order to prevent any further Petrova dopplegangers from being born…that was a risk Katherine was willing to take.

"Haven't you thought about turning?" Katherine asked, genuinely curious as she accepted the blood Elena pushed back over to her.

_Hell no_. The truth was, of course she had. She didn't like to, because it made her second-guess her chances of happily-ever-after with Stefan, but as her mother, Isobel, had pointed out, she'd be lying if she said she'd never considered becoming a vampire in order to be with Stefan permanently. "No," Elena replied quickly.

_Too quickly_, Katherine thought gleefully. "Not even for Stefan?" she probed, smiling as though she and Elena were the best of friends and were making small-talk over coffee rather than discussing eternal life in a dark, cramped, and drafty tomb. "So you're going to grow old and die and leave Stefan all alone? Tsk, tsk, Elena. How terribly selfish of you."

"It's death, Katherine," Elena replied, giving her a confused look. When Katherine put it like that, it _did_ seem selfish to put Stefan through the agony of watching her age and eventually die, but as far as she knew, Stefan was against turning humans, condemning anyone to the damned existence which he himself loathed so much.

"Oh, trust me, I know. Been there, done that." Katherine waved a bored hand in the air, sipping the blood delicately rather than gulping it down like an animal. It all seemed so refined, she and Elena sitting down and having an actual conversation rather than…well, let's just say there were plenty of other bloody options on Katherine's mind. "It would solve a lot of your problems."

"I don't really want to be eternally seventeen and watch my friends and family age and die," Elena spat back, suddenly feeling nasty and venomous. Why was it that Katherine brought out the very worst in her?

"Ah," Katherine's finger tapped her chin as she smiled knowingly at Elena. It wasn't a cruel smile, as was usually on her face, but rather one of sadness and understanding. "You mean you don't want to look like _me_ for the rest of eternity."

Elena hesitated. Of course she didn't want to look like Katherine. If at all she ever turned, she wanted it to be sometime in the future when she was older, so that no one would ever mistake her for being Katerina Petrova ever again. "Not just that," she said finally. "It's a lot to give up."

Katherine's empathy for the girl vanished as soon as it had appeared. "You mean the super powers and living forever? Oh yeah. Huge bummer," she said snidely, rolling her eyes, looking remarkably like Damon.

"Blood's not exactly my favorite beverage, great-great-great-great-great Grandma," Elena shot back, scrambling to her feet.

"You have the Petrova fire in you," Katherine admitted half with admiration, half with annoyance, rising with feline grace thanks to the blood in her system. _Mmm, so the kitty had claws, did she?_

Elena gave her a disgusted look and replaced everything in her bag, turning to leave.

"Wait."

Elena turned around, suspicion evident in her eyes.

Katherine didn't fully understand what she was doing, but she used her sharp, jagged fingernail to slice a cut up her arm, blood immediately springing forth. "You have another way out, Elena. You have to look out for yourself."

Elena hesitantly took a step closer, then stopped. "Are you offering to turn me?" she asked incredulously, not expecting this move from Katherine at all.

Katherine pursed her lips, hesitating only slightly before answering, "Yeah, I guess I am."

Elena moved forward another step. "What's stopping you from just draining me of blood or snapping my neck the second I step in there?"

Katherine smiled coldly, a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Guess you'll have to take my word for it."

She could see Elena wavering, so she played the guilt card. "Just so you know, this won't change anything. Klaus will still come after us both just for revenge for having the audacity to spite him, so you're screwed either way, but at least this way you stand a better chance of protecting your family. Aunt Jenna. Step-daddy Alaric, baby brother Jeremy, all those pesky mortal friends you have."

When she saw the determined tilt to Elena's chin, she knew she'd won. Elena crossed through the barrier, reaching for Katherine's arm. It tasted a little sour, probably because Katherine hadn't fed well in days, and she'd just managed to get her first swallow down her throat when she heard Katherine's chilling words.

"Oh, naïve Elena."

Moving fast, Katherine had Elena locked in a death-grip. "No!" Elena shrieked, struggling, but her attempts were futile. Weak as Katherine had become, Elena's frail human strength was no match for a 500 year old vampire who had everything to gain and nothing to lose.

"Shut up," Katherine hissed. "If you don't annoy me too much I won't bite you."

"Why?" Elena gasped as Katherine's grip on her throat tightened. "I trusted you."

"And that was your first mistake."

* * *

Caroline never thought she would have stooped so low as to have a stake-out at the Grill just to get a glimpse of Matt. It was a normal thing for her now, to lurk around just to see him. She couldn't trust herself to not fall in love with him all over again, and she knew if she talked to him, then she would invariably be back at square one.

She adjusted her coat tighter around her, trying to scrunch herself in the back booth of the restaurant as she listened in on his conversation with a co-worker. When she'd broken up with him, she'd done it because she thought it would be best for him, but she hadn't calculated how much it would hurt her in the process.

She knew that she had to love him enough to let him go, because she could never drag him into this world. How would he cope, knowing what really happened to Vicki? Knowing that his sister had been toyed with and killed by Damon, and then killed again by Stefan, and that everyone had spent the last year lying about it? She suppressed a shudder.

A few weeks ago, even though it felt like a lifetime, Caroline Forbes' life had been normal. Charmed, even. Supportive group of friends, a budding romance with Matt, she'd won Miss Mystic Falls...but then it was like someone up there had decided "Ok, but that's it. That's all you get."

Her life, the way it was now, wasn't good for him. Her world wasn't good for him. And it never would be. If it wasn't the risk from Caroline, it would be something else. Already, he'd been used as a pawn in Katherine's sick game, and if letting him go was the only way to make sure he would be safe, Caroline would let him go. If she couldn't give him the happy, normal life he deserved, then all she could do was hope and pray that he would live the rest of his days in blissful ignorance of the uglier side of the world.

She stared at him for one moment longer, at that beautiful blond head and those baby-blues, and then forced herself to get up and walk away.

For one millisecond, she hated Elena Gilbert. It was so unfair that she could effortlessly get Matt and both Salvatores to fall for her when it was so, so, so hard for Caroline to even manage one serious boyfriend without having to dump him in order to protect him from herself. Elena was _so_ lucky her life was so on track.

* * *

"Oh, Stefan?" Katherine called out the second she heard the younger Salvatore's footsteps. "Come to visit me for another heart-to-heart so soon? I seem to be very popular lately," she smirked, giving Elena a bright smile that was laced with an acidic cruelty.

Elena didn't bother to hide her surprise when she saw Stefan emerge into view. If he was so devastated by her unexpected admission last night, what was he doing here? When everything fell apart, why go to Katherine? She struggled against Katherine's hold. "Stefan, get Bonnie," she begged. _Please, please, please have some of that ash to throw on Katherine so I can get out of here_, she prayed to the witch.

"Or," Katherine put in, "you could always just do a little trade with me. I'm oh so very hungry and Elena looks particularly appetizing, Stefan. But I'm sure you could satisfy another hunger if you would be willing to take a few more steps over this way." She dipped her head to Elena's neck, poised to strike.

Stefan said nothing, merely approached the entrance of the tomb, his hands stuffed in his pockets. There was an inner turmoil evident in his eyes and instantly, Elena knew what he was about to do. "No, Stefan!" she screamed, but it was too late.

She felt a strong push and then she landed with a thump on the ground. "Stefan…" she breathed out, feeling a palpable sense of horror overwhelm her as she saw Stefan in the tomb, Katherine's hands twining up his arms. A muscle in his jaw twitched as he stared down at Elena.

Somehow, she managed to push herself to her feet. "I promise I'll find a way to get you out of here," she vowed.

Katherine gave her a bored look. "Haven't you already done enough? I should have killed you and saved everyone the bother of constantly having to save you."

Elena blinked back an onslaught of tears. Katherine was right. It _was_ her fault that Stefan was now Katherine's little toy. "Stefan," she attempted again, but he moved forward, as close to her as the barrier would allow.

"Elena, don't. Whatever you're about to say…just don't. Okay?" Sadness was etched into every line of his face and Elena ached to kiss every contour of his jaw and erase all his worries away and promise him that it was only him that she loved, him and him alone.

"Stefan, whenever you're done with this lover's spat, I'll be waiting…" Katherine murmured seductively, trailing her fingertips across his bicep as she sashayed to the back of the tomb, lingering in the shadows.

"No, but Stefan, you have to understand, what you heard last night…" Elena began desperately, but Stefan's voice overlapped hers, resounding strongly through the cave until the strength of his overwhelmed hers.

"Elena, it's okay. We don't have to discuss it. We'll work it out, I promise you that," he said softly.

He was just so _good_. Elena felt a sharp stab of inadequacy in comparison to how pure Stefan was.

"Can I say that I'm sorry?" A hot tear escaped and slid down her cheek.

"You can say it but I don't forgive you." The answer was so blunt yet said in such a kind voice that Elena was shocked into silence. "You can apologize for what you said but it wouldn't change your feelings. Even if you hadn't admitted it in your sleep, your feelings for Damon would still _be there_."

From the way Katherine stiffened suddenly, Elena knew that she'd heard. She waited for the crude comment that Katherine was bound to make, and sure enough, it came.

"Well, Stefan, looks like you and Damon _both_ get to have a vampire girlfriend," she sneered, looking like she was about to pee from the excitement of having history repeat itself. She couldn't have planned this more perfectly if she'd tried. All she wanted was Stefan, so if Damon and Elena hooked up, it was only a matter of time before Stefan dealt with it and returned to her.

Stefan had Katherine pressed against the wall in a second flat. "You gave her blood?"

Katherine only smiled mysteriously in response. _God, he was so hot when he was hating my guts_, she thought. "Chill, Stefan. It was only a little," Katherine retorted, smoothing down her dress as he released her. "At least if she dies, you know she'll come back."

Stefan closed his eyes. He never wanted this to happen.

"Stefan, it's okay," Elena said hesitantly, moving as close to him as the barrier would allow. "It's only an insurance policy. I won't die."

"Stay close to Damon. He'll protect you," Stefan said in a low voice, the words hurting him more than he thought possible. Entrusting her to his brother's care…he knew Damon. He knew his track record with women, too, dead or alive. He would trust Damon with Elena's life but not with her heart. It wasn't hers to give anyway, because Stefan knew from the way her eyes filled with tears that she still loved him. This thought gave him hope. "Shh, it's okay. I promise. Don't worry about getting me out, I'm safe in here. Just concentrate on Klaus, okay?"

His hand reached out as though he wanted to caress her face, but then his face fell as he realized he couldn't touch her, and his hand fell dejectedly to his side. A spasm of pain crossed Stefan's face as he knew what he had to say. "Elena, I love you. I am in love with you and I always will be. But you're not in denial about your feelings for him anymore, and that means that I can't be either. I've had my doubts about your…bond with him," he said slowly, "but I thought as long as you were with me and we kept living our life, that Damon wouldn't be able to break us. I was wrong, Elena, and…" Stefan swallowed deeply. "That night Damon snapped Jeremy's neck…when you told me you hated him, I knew he'd lost your trust and your friendship, but part of me suspected that he'd also lost your love, even if you weren't ready to admit something like that even existed."

Elena shut her eyes tightly, knowing that she should look at him, but the darkness behind her eyelids comforted her more than the sight of Stefan's tear-filled emerald eyes. She wanted to say she was sorry, but an apology would never be enough.

"I'm not going to compete for you, Elena, because I shouldn't have to" Stefan said gravely. He looked helplessly around him. "I couldn't even if I wanted to. This isn't 1864 and you're not Katherine. So you need to _choose_."

It physically hurt him to say this to her, when she was so close that all he had to do was reach out and pull her into his arms…but of course he couldn't. She was his, and she had been his for so long, and yet it hadn't been long enough. She was slipping out of his grasp and gravitating towards Damon. And Stefan didn't know how to get her back.

Elena's head swam. She knew what Stefan wanted – he wanted her to tell him right here, right now, that there was nothing going on with Damon and that she chose Stefan unconditionally. She wanted to say the words and yet nothing came to her lips.

Finally, "I can't," she managed to gasp. "Stefan, please, don't ask me to do this. Don't give me an ultimatum." She made a noise that was halfway between a laugh and a sob.

"It's not an ultimatum," Stefan responded, looking at her pityingly. "Do you love me, Elena?"

"I love you, Stefan," she answered promptly, swiping tears away from her face.

"The better question is, do you love Damon, too?" Katherine piped up from the corner. It was a wonder she'd stayed quiet this long. But she'd been biding her time, waiting until she could _really_ kick Elena when she was down.

"I don't…I don't know. It's not the same with him, Stefan," Elena whispered, ignoring Katherine entirely. "You're both different."

"But which is better?" Stefan pressed, looking like he already knew the answer.

"Why does one have to be better than the other?"

Stefan just looked at her. "Choose, Elena," he said flatly.

"It's not that simple, Stefan!" Elena finally exploded.

"Yeah, it sort of is." A myriad of emotions danced over his expressive face. "You either love me or you don't."

* * *

**A/N: Who did Elena choose? And what will happen once she learns whatever it is that Jeremy has to tell her? Will it result in yet another Delena obstacle? That's for me to know and for you to dot, dot, dot…Couldn't resist ;) Some of Damon's lines are truly epic.**

**Next chapter will have a lot more Damon/Elena, now that Stefan is in the tomb. My heart really went out to Stefan...*tear* But hopefully he'll find happiness soon.  
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**P.S. Small favor from you guys. If you leave a review, and I sincerely hope you do, please leave me something constructive. While I love to hear that you "love it" or "good chapter" I'd really like to hear more feedback from you as to WHY, what you think I could do better, where you think the next chapter is heading, etc. Thank you!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: First day back from winter break = hell. Sorry for the slow update, but the hectic craziness of the beginning of the winter/spring term just wore me out.**

** I'm sure everyone was wondering what made Stefan go so OOC last chapter – well, here's your answer! This chapter focuses on what happened during the night that Elena admitted her feelings for Damon, and more importantly, to whom Stefan turned to for comfort. The flash back was written in the present tense just because I thought it was more poignant that way.**

**Not much D/E in this chapter, but after next chapter, the plot will be properly set up, so the REAL Delena action can commence! I know that's what you're all waiting for ;)  
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**Thank you to all my reviewers!  
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* * *

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_Last Night:_

As though she knows something is wrong by just one glance at his face, Katherine's lips twist into something resembling a look of concern.

The words pour out of him; first confused, then angry, the words tumbling over his tongue so quickly that Stefan doesn't notice his eyes fill with tears. Then his voice changes from desperate urgency to a heartbroken anguish, seeking answers from Katherine that she can't give him.

Stefan can't help but feel like Elena was stringing him along; he knows she wasn't, but his feelings are irrational and all over the place. He can't tell Katherine why, but he knows she understands. For a reason he can't fully understand, he tosses Katherine a bag of blood. It hurts him to see her trapped like an animal, even though she is one. She's like a magnificent peacock, vain and beautiful, trapped in a steel cage. The beauty of her spirit, the plumes of her feathers seem wasted in such an abysmal place and in that moment, Stefan realizes that while he will always resent her, a small part of him still cares for her.

She catches it swiftly out of midair but doesn't savagely rip into it like he expects her to. Instead, she flings it behind her and he hears the soft thud as it lands on the damp earth. Her dark eyes just stare back at him, devoid of any sympathy.

"It's good to have you back, Stefan," she says simply.

It wasn't good, actually, Stefan thinks. It's pretty awful. In a moment of weakness, he succumbed to the temptation of the sweet nectar of human blood, even if it was the packaged variety.

The moments he was with Elena, surrounded by her inherent goodness and warmth, he felt a wondrous reprieve from the horrible world in which he lived in. Everywhere he went, death followed him. Damon followed him. Damon only came back to Mystic Falls because of him; Damon only met Elena because of him. It was all Damon's fault, Stefan's mind justifies. But yet, isn't it a little bit Elena's fault too? Once again it's 1864 and his older brother has managed to steal his girl, but how can he steal something if it doesn't _want_ to be stolen? Damon had stolen Elena's love, but part of Stefan realizes that love can't be stolen; it was given away freely.

Images flash before his eyes: Elena's giddy smile when Damon kissed her hand, family night at the Gilbert's when Damon played Suzy Homemaker, Elena's compassionate hug when the tomb was opened with no Katherine inside, her plea with him not to seek retribution for Lexi's murder, her quick forgiveness of his attacking Bonnie, the way she lapsed back into friendship with Jeremy's murderer, the grain of salt with which she took all his biting humor…the many small, quiet, insignificant ways in which she showed her loyalty to Damon. It was because of their "understanding", as she called it, but she meant something more by it. More than what she would ever admit to Stefan, that was for damn sure.

Instantly, all of his anger deflates from his body, leaving him feeling weak like a rag doll. His body clamors for him to turn off the switch, to stop caring. He fights it. Katherine watches; he doesn't acknowledge her presence.

If she could have one more chance, she would do it right. The mistakes she made with both boys in the past and the ways she pitted one against the other weigh heavily on her now and she knows if he ever forgives her, she will swear to love him and only him, the way he deserves to be loved. She recognizes now that they could have had so much more time together, a life together, if she hadn't left him.

Feeling inexplicably tired, Stefan turns to go. He doesn't know where he'll go yet. He can't go home, because Elena and Damon are there. He has nowhere else. He thinks he might return to the football field where he and his brother once tossed a football around.

"Stefan."

He stops.

Katherine looks at him with an indecipherable expression on her face. She decides to be honest and candid for once without expecting anything in return.

"You deserve more than half her heart. After all this time, you deserve to be happy." She wants to add "_with me_" but she doesn't, because she knows the only way she'll get him this time around is to be his friend, to take things slow and let him set the pace. It's hard for Katherine to allow someone else to take the lead but she recognizes that maybe, just maybe, Stefan wants to feel in control of something.

It's a profound statement from someone as hedonistic and narcissistic as Katherine. Stefan's eyes flicker with something that might have been gratitude, but it vanishes just as swiftly. He nodded his head at her to show he understood and left, feeling remarkably unburdened for someone who was once again trapped in a love triangle (or if you counted Katherine, love square).

Katherine Pierce was something he shouldn't want, yet wanted anyway.

* * *

_Present Day:_

"I deserve more than half your heart, Elena."

Katherine shot him a startled look when she heard her words parroted out of his mouth, but immediately her face reverted to its mask of bland indifference mingled with mild amusement.

Elena's silence was so damning that Stefan's fist lashed out involuntarily against the wall.

She jumped a foot. "Stefan!" she cried in shock and dismay, trying to move towards him, but he quelled her movements with a look.

"I'm sorry." His voice was self-loathing.

"Whipped," came Katherine's accusing voice. "I swear, you Salvatores never learn, do you?" She shot Elena a conspiratorial wink. "Will you guys ever fall in love with separate people, or are you always going to have this dysfunctional relationship when it comes to a pretty Petrova? The Petrova doppelgangers will be the death of you, mark my words." The look she sent Stefan was pitying.

Elena's temper flared. "What do you know about love, Katherine? You're a sociopath who manipulates and uses people until you've drained them dry of everything they have, every last shred of decency or self-worth."

"That's me," Katherine drawled, unrepentant. "I'm the modern-day succubus."

Elena cocked her head at Katherine, studying her. "You killed the men you loved. What kind of messed-up love is that?"

"The kind of love that will live on forever!" Katherine hotly retorted.

"Not if you're dead." It was an empty threat and Elena knew it.

"Come inside and say that," Katherine taunted. "Didn't think so." Her hand flashed and the bright sheen of the moonstone was visible. Stefan's gaze darted to it immediately. "Got your attention now? Well, listen up boys and girls because this offer is valid only for about the next five minutes."

"We're listening," Stefan said gravely.

"I have Stefan. I also have the moonstone. Two things that I have that you want. Pick one."

"You're speaking in riddles," Elena said, frowning.

"I can tell Bonnie how to get in touch with Lucy so she will lift the spell on this tomb and release us both, and I'll even toss in the moonstone." Katherine pouted in a very child-like fashion, her fingers absently playing with her necklace.

"What's the catch?" Stefan asked, knowing that Katherine wouldn't hand over her only piece of leverage without getting something she wanted in return.

"Stefan and I leave Mystic Falls the second the spell is lifted. For good. You won't see me again. _Or him_." Katherine's cat-like eyes slanted to Stefan.

"What? That's ridiculous!" Elena burst out.

"Klaus wants me dead and I refuse to remain in here at your mercy. I'm fleeing," Katherine declared. "This isn't my fight and if Stefan's smart, he'll realize it's not his either."

Stefan remained silent.

"Stefan, tell her!" Elena's voice was full of righteous indignation. This was a new level of crazy, even for Katherine.

"I'll do it," he said decisively.

"_What?_"

"You get the moonstone when the spell is lifted," Katherine said, her eyes on Elena, who could only stare at Stefan in dismay.

"No, Stefan, we need you here. This is your home. Caroline looks on you as her mentor, she needs you here. And after what happened to Jeremy..." Elena trailed off, sucking in a sharp breath, noticing how Katherine's eyes lit up with curiosity, no doubt wanting all the dirty details of what had happened to Jeremy. "And with Klaus and Elijah and all of that, how can you even think of accepting her terms?" Elena protested.

"Because you didn't give me a reason to stay," Stefan replied sharply, his eyes clouding over with sadness. "Because _you_ needing me wasn't one of the reasons you think I should stay. You loving me…there wasn't a word about that." His words weren't unkind, but they held a quiet strength to them now, a confidence that the blood lent him.

"Why are you being like this?" Elena's voice cracked.

"Because he's on blood again," came the harsh tone of Damon's voice. He had had a gut feeling this would be where Elena had run off to, since she wasn't at home, at Bonnie's, or at the boarding house. For the first time, he was wishing he was wrong.

Elena turned to stare at him. He'd crept up silently behind her and was now angling his body between her and Stefan.

Katherine snarled and curled her upper lip at him. "Damon," she hissed, clearly not forgiving him for his role in imprisoning her.

Elena's head swiveled from Damon to Stefan. "Is that true? You're on blood again?"

"Of course it's true, why else is my brother acting like such a world class jackass?" Damon answered for Stefan.

"Maybe you're rubbing off on him," spat Katherine, her hand clenching tighter around the rock.

Damon didn't spare her a glance, instead looking at Stefan with an odd combination of worry and frustration. "You're _not_ taking off with her," he stated bluntly.

"Damon, you need the moonstone." Stefan's eyes plead with him to understand. "I'm not strong enough to take it from her."

"Stefan." Damon's voice was quiet. "Don't martyr yourself."

Both boys ignored Katherine's unladylike snort and Elena's soft whimper of distress, sounding like a wounded animal.

"Tick-tock, tick-tock," came Katherine's aggravating voice. With an arch of her eyebrow, she asked, "Do we have a deal?"

"No," came both Damon and Elena's answers at the same time.

Shooting them a sad look, Stefan turned to face Katherine. "I answer for myself. And I say…" He couldn't look at Elena, knowing the pain in her face would make him second-guess this decision.

"…we have a deal, Katherine."

* * *

Bonnie wasn't happy to be collaborating with Katherine but getting the moonstone from her was their number one priority, so she was reluctantly going to fetch Lucy. It would be nice to see Lucy again, sure, and get some answers from her, but Bonnie didn't really buy Stefan's acquiescence to accompany Katherine when she left Mystic Falls. For one thing, even if he and Elena were broken up, Bonnie didn't think he'd just leave her to fend for herself while he played house with Katherine. Something was going on, and Bonnie hated being involved in it, especially since no one could give her a straight answer anymore. Stefan was refusing to speak to anyone, Elena was a mess, Damon was giving her monosyllabic, ominous answers.

And the icing on the very frustrated cake was that the whole time Damon had been explaining the situation to her, his arm had been protectively around Elena's shoulders while she nestled into his side, as though seeking comfort only _he_ could provide. The irony wasn't lost on her. Was Bonnie the only one who realized the absurdity of a human clinging to a _vampire_ when she was scared? After Damon had taken Elena back to the boarding house, Bonnie had been summoned for a debriefing on all the latest news, none of which boded well for the fate of Mystic Falls or any of its inhabitants.

She hastily scribbled down the address that Katherine rattled off to her. "How do I know you're not lying?" Bonnie asked, narrowing her eyes at the slim figure of the brunette vampire.

"Why would I lie?" Katherine's voice was amused. "Stefan and I will leave and neither of us will have any reason to give a shit about whatever happens to some sliver of rock and some bratty, obnoxious human."

"But she's your descendant. You told Damon she had to be protected," Bonnie said slowly. "That means you were going to protect her by not letting Klaus sacrifice her. So why the change of heart?"

Katherine's eyes hardened. "Who's to say I didn't lie about protecting her? Do you really think I care what happens to a measly human now that I have my lover back?" She cast a glance discreetly into the back of the tomb, seeking him out. Satisfied when she saw his vague form huddled into a corner, she returned her attention to Bonnie. "We're getting the hell away from here, witch, and never looking back," she said confidently.

She waited until Bonnie's steps faded into the distance before letting a slow, sinister smile spread across her face.

"We're trusting you. I agreed to leave with you on the condition that you play fair and follow through with the terms that you set out," Stefan's voice warned from behind her. "So if you're thinking about double-crossing…"

Katherine turned around. Yes, she had betrayed Stefan in the past, and she knew that if he ever learned about what she had in store for Bonnie, he would consider it an unforgivable offense. But she had no choice. Even if Stefan was ready to martyr himself for the good of Elena and her motley band of do-gooders, that didn't mean that Elena and Damon would _let _him. She was confident that they would have something planned to foil her, which meant she had to act fast before both the moonstone and Stefan were taken from her. Katherine was painfully aware of the fact that if she didn't have the upper hand, they wouldn't need her anymore, and that meant that they could seal her off in the tomb for an eternity and forget about her entirely. She was positive that Elena and Damon were already hatching a plan to rescue Stefan from her evil clutches – which was precisely why she had a backup plan already in motion. _Enter Bonnie. Wham, bam, thank you ma'am_, Katherine thought with mirth.

"I'm not going to renege on my end, Stefan," she said softly, feeling the barest twinge of conscience as she lied to the man she loved.

His heart still reeked of her. Elena. Always Elena. For a split-second, Katherine realized that Elena was who she could have been, should have been.

That fact alone made her feel almost sorry for what she had just done.

"You'll give me a second chance, Stefan." He would, just not in the way he expected. She offered him the smallest glimmer of a smile. Soon, she would have the perfect life she envisioned with Stefan – one without Elena in it, if all went according to plan, that is.

"I already have. Don't let me down," was his grave response.

* * *

Concern mounting, Damon watched as Elena paced back and forth in front of her dresser, tugging at her hair in agitation. "I can't believe her," she seethed.

"It's Katherine," Damon shrugged. "Diabolical at best, maniacal at worst."

The look that Elena sent his way was one of pure annoyance. "Damon, we _can't_ let this happen," she said through gritted teeth.

"I know, Elena." In a flash he was standing before her, lightly gripping her shoulders. "Trust me, I don't want to let Katherine win any more than you do, especially when it involves her riding off into the sunset with brother dearest."

Elena gave him a dirty look. It was on the tip of her tongue to ask if he was jealous but she didn't want to piss him off; that and the idea that he still had any feelings for Katherine made her stomach churn. Knowing that both brothers had once been in love with her carbon copy simultaneously sparked feelings of inadequacy and jealousy within her, driving home the point that because of their shared looks, they were…_interchangeable_. She repressed a shudder of revulsion.

The myriad of emotions playing across Elena's face was interesting to watch, albeit a little worrisome. Damon looked at her uneasily. "Elena…" he began to say, but then her eyes lit up.

"That ash!" Elena snapped her fingers. "The ash from the picture of Katherine that Stefan kept…"

"You mean the picture that Bonnie thinks is _mine_?" Damon interjected with a scowl.

"…when they lower the barrier, we can get Stefan out but throw it on Katherine to incapacitate her while Lucy and Bonnie put the spell back up," Elena finished excitedly. "She'll _never_ expect that."

Impressed, Damon smirked at her. "You're learning how to plot, now? Guess I'm a better influence on you than I thought," he leered. It actually was a good plan, he had to admit. This way, Stefan would be free, they'd get the moonstone back, and they could finally close the Katherine chapter of their lives by relegating her to the past, back where she belonged. Closure, finally.

Elena rolled her eyes. "Does your entire ego fit in this town or does it need two zip codes?" It was remarkable that even under such strenuous circumstances, joking around with Damon came as naturally to her as breathing.

"Ouch," Damon clutched his heart, pretending like he was wounded, the smirk still playing on his lips. "Hey!" he protested, dodging the pillow Elena lobbed at his head.

* * *

"Um, hi, is Lucy home?" Bonnie awkwardly shifted her weight from foot to foot. The guy who had answered the door was flippin' _hot_. Was he Lucy's boyfriend?

The man nodded, holding the door open a little more welcomingly. "Why don't you come on in? I'll get her for you."

"Thanks." Bonnie stepped inside. No sooner had the door shut behind her that a hand was clapped over her mouth, cutting off her scream.


	11. Chapter 11

"So, seriously, how long do you plan on pouting for?" Damon finally asked from his place at her window.

Elena turned her startled glance on him. "I'm not pouting," she said slowly, as though speaking to a small child. "I'm thinking."

"You're about _this_ close to Broodsville." Damon held his pointer finger a half inch away from his thumb. "Population? One. Stefan." Softening when he saw her somber face, he sighed, turning away from the window. "I promise, everything will work out the way it's supposed to, Elena."

"What if the way it's supposed to work out sucks?" Elena sighed grumpily. She threw Damon a puzzled glance. "Are you going to stand guard at my window all night?"

He quirked his lips upward in a half smile, half grimace. "Are you inviting me to share your bed?"

She fixed him with a long, thorough stare, then got up from the bed, crossing over to him.

Damon's breath caught as she approached him, stopping when she was hovering so close he could smell the tantalizing scent of her right under his very nose. Her chin tilted upwards and for one wild second, Damon thought she was going to press her lips against his, but then her lips parted and she said, "I guess you'll need blankets."

His eyes still tracing the outline of her lips, he mumbled "hmm?" in a preoccupied tone of voice. "What?" Damon blinked down at the plump pillow she'd pushed into his arms.

"Hold on, I'm grabbing you a sleeping bag," Elena called over her shoulder as she headed to the guest closet down the hall where they kept the spare linens and sleep gear.

_She's making me sleep on the floor?_ Damon thought incredulously, but dutifully lay down on the floor next to her bed, closest to the window, so Jenna wouldn't be able to see him if she dropped by to say goodnight to her niece. Her pillow smelled like her, he realized, inhaling deeply. He caught a whiff of Elena-ness, mixed with a citrus scent he recognized as the Escada perfume Caroline had given her.

Elena busied herself in the bathroom, unconsciously delaying the return to her bedroom by dragging out her nighttime rituals. She slowly brushed her teeth, ran her fingers through her hair, and used a face wash on her face. She knew Damon was just staying with her for the night for protection, yet she still felt a strange sense of wanting to impress him, so she rubbed lip balm across her lips to give them a rosy glow and hurriedly changed into her pajamas.

Tucking her hair behind her ear, she emerged from the bathroom. Wait. Was Damon.._sniffing_ her pillow?

Pretending not to notice, she crossed to her bed and turned off the lamp. "Goodnight, Damon." She slid under the covers, dragging it up over her shoulders.

He watched her huddled form under the mound of blankets struggle to find a comfortable position. "Night, Elena."

They both lay awake for another half hour, neither saying anything.

Damon shifted to his side. This was by no means as luxurious as his own bed, but nor was it the most uncomfortable way he'd ever slept.

Elena pressed her cheek against the cool pillow, wishing she had someone to talk to about all this, about all the new drama in her already dramatic life. But the one person she really wanted to talk to was trapped in a tomb with his maniacal ex. Damon might understand, but being as her conflicted emotions all revolved around _him_, he probably wasn't the best person to consult. And Bonnie's phone kept going to voice mail, Elena thought with annoyance. She really hoped Bonnie wasn't going to do something stupid, like going after Lucy by herself in the middle of the night.

She tossed and turned for a minute in aggravation until a thought finally occurred to her. "Damon?"

A soft grunt was her reply.

"Do you snore?"

The deep baritone of his laugh sent a wave of calm washing over her. "Go to sleep, Elena."

* * *

The male vampire stood cloaked in shadows, staring dispassionately at the unconscious teenage girl on his sofa. Who knew humans were so breakable? He'd pressed his thumb against a pulse point in her throat until she'd passed out and even though he'd tried slapping her a few times across the face, she didn't awaken. Scrolling through his cell phone, he found the number he was looking for.

"Hello?"

"I have Bonnie."

"Who is this?" Lucy's voice was filled with fear and outrage. "What are you doing with her? Is she okay? _Who are you?_"

"A friend of Katherine's," he replied smoothly. "If you want Tituba here to survive the night, write down these instructions very carefully. Katherine was very specific on what she wanted done, and I think we both know what will happen if you betray her again."

* * *

Elena woke up to the sound of a low purring. Glancing at her alarm clock, the display read 6:52, just a few minutes before her alarm would go off for school. She quietly turned it off before the shrill beep woke Damon from his slumber.

His chest was lightly rising and falling with each breath he took. _What would it be like to place my hand over it?_ Elena idly combed her fingers through the end of her hair, staring at him, so innocent in sleep although anything but during the day. His features had relaxed into a soft, boyish look that she had never seen on his face before. The very fact that he bothered to keep up the pretense of breathing during sleep gave her a curious sense of satisfaction. During the nights she'd spent with Stefan, his disconcerting lack of breath had been hard to get used to, when the only noise to break the deathly quiet of the night had been her own inhalations and exhalations.

"Like what you see?" he mumbled, breaking Elena out of her reverie. "I feel violated, you staring at me like that. Makes me feel cheap." He opened one bleary eye to show her he was only teasing, then snapped it shut again. "You have awful bed head, Elena."

"I do not," she replied automatically, but her hand dove to her hair anyway, smoothing it down. "I'm taking a shower. Jenna's already left for some meeting with her adviser so if you want to stay here and join us for breakfast, you can."

She hurried into the bathroom before she took the offer back, not sure what had caused her to extend his stay. To keep Jenna from getting suspicious, Jeremy would sneak over in the mornings to sleep in his own bed for a few hours and then go back to the Salvatore house after school and stay there until it was dinner time back at the Gilbert's. Evidently, Damon didn't yet trust Jeremy's blood lust enough to let him go back home just yet.

By the time she emerged at 7:35, hair washed and blow-dried straight, all evidence of his having spent the night in her room was gone, presumably tidied away back in its proper place. He probably went home, Elena thought, illogically filled with disappointment.

She entered the kitchen, surprised to see Damon at the stove, showing Jeremy how to properly flip a pancake before it turned brown.

"I burned it," Jeremy frowned, using a spatula to move the pancake off the pan onto his plate.

"It's not hard. See?" Damon crowded triumphantly, sliding a perfectly golden pancake onto an already mountainous pile. Turning, he noticed Elena and gave her a small smile. "Breakfast is served, my lady," he teased, giving her a lascivious wink.

She returned his smile without hesitation. "It smells delicious. I didn't know you could cook," she said reproachfully.

Damon waggled his brows at her. "What do you take me for, an incompetent illiterate? I followed Aunt Jemima's instructions on the back of the box. Add water, mix, pour, it's idiot proof." He gave Jeremy's hopelessly burned pancake an apologetic look. "Well, almost."

Elena hid a smile as she listened to both boys bicker good-naturedly about Jeremy's pancake, wondering if Damon realized how domesticated this morning had been. A year ago, she would have called herself crazy for sitting down to breakfast with a brutal killer, but today she was sitting down to breakfast with Damon, her friend. "Sorry we don't have any blood, but I hope good ol' OJ will tide you over," she grinned, passing him the carton.

Their fingers met when he accepted it from her grasp, and as a spark of electricity flew between them, their eyes flew to each other's. Then, with an embarrassed laugh, Elena let go and busied herself with eating, not noticing Damon's knowing smirk.

Finally, Jeremy scraped his chair back. "Elena, mind if I drive?"

"What's the time?" She glanced at the clock in the microwave. "Crap." It was almost 8; she had been enjoying herself so much that time had just flown by.

"And that's my cue to leave," Damon said, standing up and setting his plate in the sink. "Will you be coming over later?"

Elena bit her lip. "Yeah, I'll be at the boarding house after school."

"Guess I'd better…" Damon jerked his thumb towards the door. "Don't want the neighbors to see me leave in the same clothes I was in last night. They might get the wrong idea," he smirked. "Time for the walk of shame."

Elena felt the air whip around her as the presence of Damon's body departed.

"Elena? Ready?" Jeremy appeared at the top of the stairs with a book bag slung over his shoulders.

She forced a smile. "Yes."

The drive to school was more silent than normal, as Jeremy thought of the best way to approach what he wanted to say. "Did you ever read my text?" he asked finally.

Elena's eyes widened. "Oh, god, I completely forgot, Jer," she said apologetically. "I read it, but what did you mean by…I mean, what did Damon lie about? Did he do something?"

"Sort of," Jeremy said cautiously, navigating to a parking spot, cutting off some chick's pink Volkswagen.

"Kudos," Elena grinned at him as the girl stuck her middle finger out the window at Jeremy before circling the parking lot to find another space.

"Elena, Damon's in love with you."

Her first reaction was to laugh. "I'm sorry, Jeremy, but what is it with everyone saying that? He knows I'm with Stefan. Granted, I'm not 'with' Stefan right now, but Damon knows that I could never –would never– do that to his brother."

Jeremy's eyes bored into hers seriously. "Elena, he does know that. And that's why he made you forget it."

Elena knitted her eyebrows together in a frown. What was he talking about?

"I was in the bathroom that night when they rescued you from Rose and Elijah. I left my vervain bracelet on the sink while I was showering and I forgot it there, so when I went back to retrieve it…I sort of eavesdropped on everything he said."

Elena grabbed Jeremy's wrist, apprehension flooding through her. "Tell me."

* * *

In a fit of self righteous anger, she made Jeremy turn around and drive her back to the boarding house. Normally, Jeremy would have made a crack about how she deemed Damon Salvatore more important than school, but from the mutinous look on her face, he decided he should just keep quiet.

The car door slammed and Elena flew up the walkway to the door, bursting in without a knock as Jeremy sped away, relieved to get her off his hands, especially when she was in a temper.

"How could you," she hissed, dropping her bag at her feet, wishing she had the balls to throw the heavy bag at his arrogant, handsome, no, just arrogant, head.

Damon was reclined on the sofa with a drink in hand, He didn't even look up from the glass of whiskey he was nursing, used to her dropping by unannounced. "I won't even pretend to know what you're talking about."

"You. Wiped. My. Memory."

His gaze shot up to hers, stunned to find tears pooling behind her eyes. "You shouldn't remember that," he said in shock, not bothering to deny it.

"Damon! I was trusting you to never use your compulsion on me."

"And you're pissed that I made you forget something?" he asked incredulously. "Elena, I'm hot, you're hot, I could have very easily made you fall in bed with me," he smirked, retreating behind his mask of complete and total _ass_.

She didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Damon," she said insistently, walking up to stand before him. "Please."

"Please what? Are you actually telling me that if I had told you, that it would have changed anything?" He scoffed. "I know exactly how that conversation would have gone. 'Damon, I care about you but I'm in love with Stefan, don't give him another reason to be concerned about our friendship'," he said in a high, falsetto voice, mimicking hers.

Helplessly, Elena wrung her hands. "I don't know what you want me to say, Damon. But you shouldn't have just taken it back. I had the right to know."

He didn't say anything, just crossed to the other side of the room to pour himself another stiff one.

"Damon, please don't shut me out," she begged from behind him.

"And the worst part is that you actually _might_ be in love with me, all on your own, and you can't even admit it to me." He blurred in front of her, icy eyes piercing hers intently until Elena actually felt a chill.

"Because of what I said in my sleep?" Elena's lower lip quivered.

Damon slowly lifted a hand and placed it on her cheek.

Involuntarily, Elena nuzzled her cheek against the palm of his hand. She could sense him inching towards her slowly, as though he were afraid she would bolt at any second. He poised his lips above hers, a silent question, giving her the opportunity this time to pull away. Reading the question in his eyes, Elena tilted her chin up and accepted his kiss. In comparison to the lust and desperation of all their past kisses, some given willingly, others taken, this kiss was chaste and sweet.

"I love you," he breathed against her lips. Before she could say a word, to force her lips to say an emotion she didn't feel, he spoke again. "I love you and that's why I can't be with you, Elena. Or even try. I may be a total bastard but even _I_ know that this situation will only cause you pain. I can see how you're struggling to hold yourself together when it's just you and Stefan, so can you imagine how much more difficult it will be when it's _me_?"

He shook his head sadly. He had no illusions about himself. "I'm not 'take-your-boyfriend-to-prom-Damon, I'm not holding-hands-at-the-movies-Damon, and I'm definitely not going-the-animal-route-Damon." He gave her a defensive look. "This is who I am, Elena, and even if I try to fool myself by thinking I'll change for you…at the end of the day, I am who I am, and that's the person I've always been. I'm not good for you."

"So you're saying it's over before it's begun?" Elena shook her head. "You and Stefan both have a tendency to tell me that you don't want to be with me at the exact wrong time – you both think that walking away from me is the right thing to do, and it's not. I'm sorry, Damon, but you don't get to decide what's best for me." She ignored the way he bristled at her mention of Stefan, probably taking offense to the fact that she'd lumped them both in the same category.

"So what are you saying?" Damon asked carefully.

"I'm saying that…what I said to Stefan in my sleep…I can't hide from it anymore. It's out there now," Elena gestured with her hand. "I can't be in denial about this anymore. I owe it to myself and to you to see if this can ever work."

Damon pinched the bridge of his nose, one of the few traits he'd inherited from his father, attempting to alleviate the tension he felt.

"Damon, I want to spend time with you. Doing normal stuff, that doesn't involve Katherine or Klaus or you saving my life. Or when you're drunk. Nothing good happens when you're drunk," she gently reminded him, plucking the glass out of his hands and setting it on the coffee table.

"So we're dating?" Shit, he hadn't done this since...well, ever.

"Guess so."

* * *

**-A/N: Let me know what you thought!**

**I want to focus on their relationship for a while longer before delving back into the plot, so if anyone has suggestions or requests for Delena scenes, let me know!**

**Thanks!  
**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait, guys! Swamped with school. :'( But, after watching the mid-season premiere of VD, my muse returned in full force and I managed to write a few chapters ahead! Ch.12 is shorter than the others just for the reason that I wanted to focus on two different D/E scenes and they didn't really flow well together in the same chapter, so I split it up into Ch.12 + 13. Ch.13 will be going up tomorrow (Sunday) night.**

**So, who else was unhappy about the ending of Thursday's episode? I liked the scenes leading up to Rose's death (particularly when Damon gave her such a pleasant dream before driving a stake through her heart...) and Elena's heartfelt hug and I even liked his declaration of wanting to be human...and yet that kill at the end just ruined it for me. He's grown so much that I felt it was a little out of character for him. He's volatile, yes, (especially after the death of someone he cared about, at his own hands, no less) but at the same time it sort of felt like he'd taken one step forward, two steps back :/**

* * *

Elena was completely unprepared for the way his eyes brightened with some unspoken emotion when she'd agreed to date him – had she really just voluntarily agreed to that? Her eyes widened and maybe he could sense her sudden reservation, because the light in his eyes was extinguished and a cold veneer settled over his face.

"It's not too late to go running back to Stefan," Damon said in an off-hand voice, pretending like whether she returned to his brother or not was of little to no consequence to him.

Aggrieved, Elena took a step closer to him. "Damon…I want this, okay? But you were right when you said that you and I will be way harder than me and Stefan ever were, even on our worst days." Her eyes searched his. "Stefan came into my life at a point when I desperately needed his strength and stability. We loved each other but we rushed into a relationship." She glossed over the fact that she and Stefan still _did_ love each other even though they were broken up, because she knew it wouldn't be conducive to Damon understanding what she was trying to tell him.

Damon just kept looking at her in the altogether too serious way that slightly unnerved her, especially when he was being so strangely unblinking.

"What I'm trying to say, Damon, is that…I don't need or want constant protection. I don't want you taking your new license as my….boyfr-thing," she corrected herself hurriedly, "as permission to protectively hover around me constantly and make me look over my shoulder every second. Stefan never understood that; he would never, not once, let me stand on my own two feet." Elena bit her lip nervously, uncomfortable with mentioning Stefan to Damon. "Neither of you let me make my own decisions and yeah, they might not be the decisions you think I should make, but I have my reasons."

"You mean your kamikaze mission?" Damon lofted a brow to an even higher height than normal. "Your reasons are completely _insane_, Elena."

He could see the frustration mounting in her gaze. He knew what she was trying to tell him: that Stefan smothered her by keeping things from her and trying to protect her at all costs, even if it meant not involving her in his plans. And Damon understood that Elena didn't want him to repeat Stefan's tactics.

"Damon, I get it. You're both older and wiser but you both see me as some weak, fragile girl that needs constant protection. I promise, I won't break. Not now. When I met Stefan, I was broken. He helped put me back together again."

Damon chose not to think on how wrong she was. All it took was a flick of a wrist for her neck to snap, and he knew better than most how sadistic vampires could be to their victims. "He didn't do anything, Elena," Damon said softly. "You fixed _yourself_. He was just there when it happened."

Elena begged to differ; she credited Stefan with getting her back on track, but she chose not to argue this particular point with a biased Damon. "I just need you to treat me like a seventeen year old girl, Damon," her eyes plead with him. "I'm in an impossible situation, I know that, but I still need to feel like I'm in control of my own fate. On some level, I know we're all at the mercy of whatever hordes of crazy-ass vampires and werewolves come to town to stake their claim on me, but the only thing keeping me sane right now is the knowledge that in the end, we all make our own choices. Don't take that away from me."

The validity of her little speech touched Damon but he wasn't naive enough to give in and let her have her own way. Sure, he'd let her think that she'd won, but at the end of the day, he would be watching out for her and making sure nothing bad happened on his watch. "Elena," he said slowly, "I can understand your need to save everyone. I can even respect it. But you can't ask me to sit back and let you sacrifice yourself. I'm selfish like that." He flashed her a crooked smile that spoke of sadness and a weary understanding of the way the world worked. "I won't let you die for us. I will stop at _nothing_ to keep you safe. I won't coddle you the way Stefan did, but you need to understand that I'm still me, and I protect what's mine."

Her eyes flashed at that blatantly possessive statement but she said nothing, letting him get out all that he had to say.

"Your plan to give yourself to Elijah was remarkably stupid, reckless, dangerous, and on the whole, ill-advised."

As he insulted her intelligence, Elena opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off with a gentle finger against her lips.

"But it was also incredibly brave and selfless," he finished quietly, taking her hands in his. "And I'm old enough to realize that the strength you have in you won't be stifled no matter what Stefan and I do. I'm not easily impressed by heroic acts of courage, Elena," he gave her hand a squeeze, "but if I wasn't so determined to save you, I would admire your strength."

Elena allowed him to pull her against his chest in a sturdy embrace – wait, Damon hugging her of his own free will? That was a first…

She didn't know exactly how to take his words. She supposed she should feel flattered but instead she just felt like he was feeding her lines in order to pacify her need to feel in control, as one might humor a stubborn child.

He cradled her against her and she permitted herself to be soothed by his comfort, even though her mind was flooding with things she wanted to say to him. "Damon?" Elena's arms slowly encircled Damon's waist, holding him tightly against her.

"Hmm?"

"I won't let you die for me," she said softly. "No matter what you say. Your life isn't worth less than mine."

For a moment she was afraid she'd said the wrong thing, pushed the wrong button, rubbed him the wrong way, mistaking his silence for disapproval and anger. Instead, she felt the reverberations of his laughter against her chest as Damon smiled against her hair. "Yes, Elena, it is worth less. Much less." His lips ghosted over her temple. "But thanks for saying it."

Elena wriggled closer into his chest, scrunching up her nose. "One of these days, you're gonna have to believe me, you know," she mumbled.

For a split-second, nausea swept over Damon. This moment and embrace were far too…intimate. And not intimate like the _wrap-your-legs-around-my-waist_ way that he was used to, but intimate like _soul-searching-and-deep-brooding-conversations-about-man's-existential-dilemna_. This moment…was too _Stefan _for his taste. Not for the first time, Damon was struck by the similarities between Elena and his little brother. Both looked for the deeper meaning, both felt the need to document their lives through their idiotic little journal entries, both…fit. Fit together. Stefan and Elena...god, it even _sounded_ good. Laughter bubbled in his chest as he envisioned a wedding invitation, "you are cordially invited to the union of Stefan Salvatore and Elena Gilbert"... No one would understand why the hell she was with _Damon_, of all people. _Boy, that's not a conversation that's going to go over well with anyone_, Damon thought grimly.

His arms tightened around Elena. Sooner or later she'd take off her rose-colored glasses and see Damon for what he truly was, the key word being "not Stefan", and she'd wonder if she'd made the right choice. She would wonder if dating Stefan's homicidal, psychopath older brother was better than dating the gentle, humanesque boy with the gentle smile. She'd wonder why she'd traded sparkling green eyes for icy blue ones. She'd wonder if she'd made a terrible, monstrous mistake.

And so Damon determined to make himself enjoy his time with her while he could. It might be all he ever had with her. And he would spend an eternity remembering it.

* * *

**A/N: Oh hey. And I have a primarily Delena related tumblr (although I will have personal stuff on there as well regarding my writing), so feel free to follow me! Since I can't post a link: /thevisforvampire(dot)tumblr(dot)com**

**Note: I do post spoilers.**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: This chapter foreshadows a hint of what Katherine has in store for our heroes but the primary purpose is to show the parallels between Damon/Elena's relationship and Katherine/Stefan's. Even Caroline's issues are a reflection of what Elena herself is feeling, so this chapter really ties together the three main relationships of the story. **

* * *

"Finally you came," Katherine said in an annoyed voice, barely glancing up at the darkly handsome vampire who'd just entered the tomb. "I was starting to think you forgot the little debt you owed me."

"Never," he hissed. "I consider my debt to you paid in full now."

"As you wish," Katherine inclined her head gracefully. "Now, my moonstone, if you'll be so kind." Her hand shot out. She had despised letting her minion get his grubby paws over her precious moonstone but it had been necessary for him to take it to Lucy in order for the witch to spell it.

Without a word, he fished it out of his pocket and handed it to her. "I mean it, Katherine. We're done here."

"You've repaid your debt to me, Garth," Katherine said dismissively, running her hands over the moonstone. "So what did you do with little Bonnie? I trust Lucy didn't give you any problems."

"No," he said finally. "Once Lucy knew I had the girl, she was putty in my hands." A cruel smile spread over his face. "She was eager to make sure nothing happened to her little cousin. Still, I made sure to tell her that I would be keeping the girl until I had ascertained that the spell she performed actually worked."

"And does it?" Katherine snapped.

"You can try it out for yourself," Garth shrugged offhandedly. "Whenever the opportunity presents itself," he smirked. "I should be heading back. Bonnie was just starting to come 'round when I left her."

"You hit her?" Katherine didn't seem pleased. "If they suspect what happened…" she trailed off threateningly.

"I don't do a half-assed job, Katerina," spat Garth, showing an unusually violent display of temper. "It's too bad I couldn't compel her since she's a witch, but she's also a teenage girl and that means she's susceptible to good looks and charm. Which I have in abundance, of course," he smirked. "All I have to do is prey on her gullibility and tell her she just passed out, which she'll buy, because I deposited her on the couch. I'll return with a glass of water and an aspirin and all shall be right as rain."

Katherine nodded approvingly. "You did well, Garth. She's a novice witch, which means she should already be experiencing some of the drawbacks of magic. Headaches, nose bleeds, losing consciousness…yes, everything is in order," she said determinedly. "But before you're released from all obligation to me…you will make sure Lucy doesn't speak a word of this to anyone. I expect you to silence her for good."

Garth's eyebrows drew together in confusion. "But Katherine…I thought it was important that there was a witch on our side."

"Lucy is not on our side," Katherine said wearily. "The second she betrayed me, she became the enemy. It's time she paid the price for that. End her."

"And if the spell doesn't work? What if she tricked you again?"

"Something tells me she hasn't," Katherine mused, running her fingertips over the smooth rock, feeling the power emanate from it. With one last, hard look at Garth, she turned on her heel and retreated into the dark, cavernous cave. Soon, everything she wanted would be within her grasp. Oh yes, Elena Gilbert would pay for thinking she could break the bond Katherine had with her two boys.

* * *

Caroline went from an ashen horror to a sickly shade of green. "Elena. You and…Damon?" she said weakly, looking at her best friend like she'd sprouted horns or a second head or something equally ridiculous that would make sense, because what Elena had just said sure as hell didn't make any sense whatsoever.

"I know it's mind-boggling," Elena said quickly, "and I know all the rotten stuff he did to you in the past, but I really just want to know you're on board with this, Care."

Caroline bit her lip, looking uncomfortably out the window, trying not to focus on how repulsive she found Elena's new-found relationship with –ugh– Damon Salvatore. "Elena, I want to be supportive of this, but…didn't you just break up with Stefan a few weeks ago?" she said cautiously.

Elena knew how this sounded. It sounded cheap and tawdry to say that her affections had switched from Stefan to Damon so easily, and part of her burned with shame, but the other part that longed for Damon felt like there was nowhere else she should be than with him. "I know it's crazy, but I honestly do feel for him," she admitted. "And I was so determined all along to not be Katherine that I never let myself get too close to him out of this fear that history would repeat itself. I pushed him away so Stefan wouldn't worry and I kept pushing because I was too much of a coward to admit that we had something. Chemistry. Magic. I don't know. I can't explain it," Elena gesticulated with her hands, flustered.

"Trust me," Caroline said with a sly smirk. "It's Damon. I get it. I _so_ get it. I've seen him at his worst and I've seen him at his best, like when he helped my mom. If he lets his good side show when he's around you even half of the time…then trust me, I get it. He can be an ass, but he's a harmless ass, you know? Like Tyler's an ass."

"Damon's not really 'harmless'," Elena interjected with a worried look on his face. She really hoped Caroline wouldn't repeat that in front of Damon, because it might make him go out and do something stupid just out of spite to prove he was still the Big Bad. Eager to get the subject of conversation off Damon, she quickly slipped in, "So how are you and Tyler?"

"We're okay. The transformation was…totally awful," Caroline sighed. "I mean, it was definitely a challenge and I was terrified the whole time, but I'm glad I was there for him. And then afterwards, I just held him. He's so scared, Elena. He doesn't want to be a werewolf…and it really sucks that we can't tell him about Mason. I hate having to keep things from him."

"It's more dangerous for everyone if he knows the truth, including him," Elena said firmly. "You can't tell him, Care. Damon would kill you."

At Caroline's eyebrow raise, Elena quickly amended, "Well, kill you _more_."

"He wants to take me out to dinner at the Grill tonight as a thank you," Caroline's brow furrowed. "It's sort of verging on a date, isn't it? I mean…it's dinner. All romantic and intimate."

Elena hid a smile. "It's the Grill, Care, not the Ritz. You eat there at least once a week. What's dinner between friends?"

"I guess." Caroline worried her lower lip between her teeth. "Only we're not 'just friends', Elena. He kissed me. Or I kissed him. I don't really know who kissed who first! Ugh," she buried her face in her hands. "It's different from how it was with Matt. Tyler and I are sort of growing at the same pace as people and I can never be truly honest with Matt. At least Tyler knows who what I am."

"Do you like him, Care?" Elena asked gently.

Caroline looked at her nails. "I do. But he wants to move pretty fast with our relationship and you know me, normally I'm a big fan of fast, but I don't want to rush things with Tyler, you know? I always rush things and then they get ruined. I know I jump into relationships too quickly and I don't want to wreck whatever is going on with me and Tyler."

"So take it slow," Elena suggested. "Besides, something tells me Tyler needs a friend right now more than a girlfriend."

Caroline brightened. "Hey, why don't you and Damon come along? It'll be fun! You, me, Tyler, and – "

"…the undead sex god?"

Both girls' heads spun around to see Damon emerge from the window.

"Damon?" Elena quickly scrambled off her bed.

"Elena," he repeated, slightly mockingly, approaching her. He gave Caroline an appraising glance, then bent his head and lightly brushed his lips across Elena's upturned lips.

"Surreal," the blond muttered, grabbing her purse. "So since Damon was probably eavesdropping on this conversation, can I count on you two to be there?"

Elena glanced at Damon, not wanting to commit them one way or the other. She didn't exactly think Damon was the type to play nice, especially not with a werewolf, but on the other hand, she wanted Damon to be able to get along with her friends without a bloodbath ensuing. After a pregnant pause, she was about to tell Caroline "no" when Damon surprised her by agreeing.

"You owe me, Vampire Barbie," he said finally. Spending time with the perky blond and her pet project didn't exactly rate high with him, but all it had taken was one glance into Elena's anxious face to see that she wanted to go but didn't want to make the decision for them. If it meant keeping her happy and proving he was capable of normal human interaction, why not?

Caroline shot him a venomous look. "If I'm Vampire Barbie, what does that make you?" she said through gritted teeth.

"A beautiful male specimen?" Damon supplied helpfully, waggling his eyebrows at her.

"I'm going to find the most annoying nickname for you," Caroline grumbled, heading for the door. "And no!" she shouted back over her shoulder. "Undead sex god does _not_ count!"

Turning to face Damon, Elena gave him a curious smile.

"What?" he asked self-consciously, moving to her bed to grab her bear, settling it over his stomach as he sprawled over the comforter.

"Nothing," Elena smiled. "Just you, trying to fit in with my friends…it's nice. I appreciate it."

"Wouldn't do it for just anyone," Damon shrugged, trying not to let her see how much her words affected him, even though his heart swelled a little to see she thought highly of his efforts.

Elena opened her mouth to say something more but then her phone rang, an annoyingly shrill ring tone that made Damon's ears bleed. "What boy band is that?" he snorted derogatorily.

She glanced at the caller ID. Stefan. She didn't really want to answer it but at the same time, it felt wrong to not accept his call. A sharp pang of guilt went through her as she realized that she hadn't thought about Stefan in an entire day. Broken up or not, she didn't want him stuck in there with that psycho any longer than he had to be.

"Either you answer it or I will, because that ring tone is seriously annoying," Damon's voice broke into her thoughts.

"It's Stefan," she said unnecessarily, knowing he would have already seen the name flashing on the screen.

Emotion clouded in his eyes as he waited to see what her next decision would be. If she accepted the call, it meant that Stefan still held a prominent place in her heart. And if she rejected it, it meant she was symbolically closing the door on her relationship with him. And judging from the conflicted look on her face, she knew what the implications of this one little phone call meant, too.

Without a word she rejected the call, laying her phone on her dresser, then turned to face Damon, whose eyes shone brightly with a mixture of relief, disbelief, and adoration.

Reaching out to catch her hands in his, Damon tugged her towards him. "Now, where were we?" he smirked as he pulled her down to meet his lips.

* * *

"Damn it," Stefan sighed, snapping his phone shut. Why hadn't she picked up?

"Forget Elena," Katherine smirked next to him, still playing with the moonstone. "If we're going to be stuck in this cave together, we might as talk. I guarantee I'm way better at witty conversational banter than your little human."

Stefan snorted.

"Or we could, you know, not talk," she winked suggestively.

"What should we talk about first, Katherine?" Stefan growled. "How you compelled me into being okay with sharing you with my brother? How you forced me to drink your blood? How you crushed Damon and I both? Made our lives living hell?"

Taken aback, Katherine's arched eyebrows drew together. "Stefan, I…"

"Don't waste your breath," Stefan shook his head. "There's no excuse you can make that will make any of this okay." Turning away from her, he tried Elena's number again. The phone hadn't even started to ring before Katherine blurred over to him and slammed him easily against the wall. "What are you doing?" he demanded as she pressed his cheek viciously against the wall. He felt her small, delicate fingers pry the phone out of his fist.

She took a step back, releasing him. With a manic glint in her eye, she crushed his mobile phone in one hand, letting the pieces fall to the floor as Stefan looked on with a mixture of fury and shock. With a remorseless shrug, she took a step closer to him, winding her arms around his neck. "No contact with the outside world, Stefan," she cooed in his ear. "I'm sure that without Elena distracting you, you'll find that I'm everything she could _never_ be, and more." She pressed her lips against his roughly, feeling satisfaction run through every fiber of her being as she felt his lips relax against hers, even though he didn't exactly kiss her back. "Now, where were we?" she whispered against his lips.

* * *

A few hours later, with lips swollen from his kisses, Elena ignored Caroline's knowing smirk as she and Damon approached the table where she and Tyler were already sitting.

"Elena!" she faux-greeted them. "Damon! What a surprise. I didn't know you were coming here tonight." She gave Elena a quick hug, murmuring "play along" in her ear as she let go of her. "You guys should totally join us!" She gave Elena a bright smile before turning to Tyler. "The more the merrier, right?"

"It's funny how transparent she is," Damon whispered in Elena's ear as he pulled a chair out for her.

"Be nice," she reprimanded him with a small smile. But he was right; Caroline was doing everything in her power to make dinner with Tyler not be a date, even going so far as to leave a huge gap of space between the two of them in the booth.

The four of them placed their orders but soon found that the topics of conversation were somewhat limited. Once again, Elena felt the stab of imbalance as she noticed the couples around them who were laughing and giggling over trivial matters while she herself had weighty issues like werewolves, vampires, and psychopath dopplegangers to think about. Tyler didn't know about anything supernatural other than himself and Caroline so the normal topics that Elena talked about nowadays were out of the question. Talking about school was a bust too, because Damon couldn't participate, and after Damon faux-innocently asked how Matt was taking Tyler's new interest in his ex that pretty much ended the conversation. Every now and then, Tyler would shoot Damon a glare just for existing, while Caroline kept that ridiculous Stepford wife smile plastered on her face.

Elena didn't exactly know when the Caroline/Tyler dynamic changed but halfway through the meal, Caroline had noticeably warmed to him and by the time desert came around, his arm was slung casually over the back of her seat. When the checks came, she'd somehow managed to nestle into the side of his arm, Elena noticed with some amusement.

Damon had managed to keep things civil, other than that crack about Matt earlier, so on the whole, Elena viewed tonight as a smashing success.

"I need to use the ladies room," Elena said as the waitress cleared their plates away, moving her napkin from her lap to the table, looking at Caroline with pleading eyes. Catching on, the blond quickly stood up.

"Um, me too, Elena," she said, catching on. Tyler and Damon immediately moved to attention, standing up and helping the girls with their chairs. Apparently deciding that she was done playing it cool with Tyler, Caroline gave Tyler a lingering kiss on the lips before sashaying away from the table, her fuck-me stilettos somehow making her a force to be reckoned with. Elena gave Damon a panicked look. After that heated send-off from her friend, Elena didn't want to just leave without leaving Damon a little something too, but she totally wasn't ready to swallow his tongue in public. He gave her an imperceptible, understanding nod and began to seat himself again.

Elena didn't know why but the mere fact that he was so understanding and considerate made her lose all sense of propriety and she lunged at Damon. He clearly didn't think she was ready to broadcast their new-found relationship in public, which was true, but it hurt Elena's heart to think that she was denying Damon the affection that she'd so easily given Stefan. Damon still felt like he wasn't big enough to step into Stefan's shoes, and Elena didn't want to leave the table giving Damon and Tyler the impression that she agreed.

It wasn't a sexy move like she'd hoped, but rather an awkward fumbling where she fell against his chest and kissed the corner of his mouth. Embarrassed, she pulled back at once, but Damon didn't let her. His hands settled on her waist and he gave her a long, thorough look. "Sorry," Elena mumbled, taking a step backward. Damon let her, the merest ghost of a smile on his face.

"Restroom?" he reminded her.

"Oh. Um. Yes." Elena fled.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Who's officially the suckiest updater ever? I can't apologize enough to you guys for leaving you hanging right when it was finally picking up and getting to the juicy plot! I can only assure you it was for real life stuff that was pretty major and important, but thanks to blessed summer break, I'm back in action. Expect updates to be far more routine now.**

**I apologize if this chapter didn't flow as well as my others did, as it's been a few months and I'm trying to get back into the swing of things.**

* * *

By the time Elena entered the restroom, her face was flushed pink with embarrassment. The second she threw open the door, she came face to face with Caroline's knowing smirk. "I'm not even going to say anything," Care said with a twinkle in her eye.

Elena barely stifled her groan. Great, so now the world knew that Elena Gilbert wasn't as good at the toe-curling kisses as Caroline Forbes was.

"So do you really have to pee or did we come in here for girl talk?" Caroline questioned. A thought occurred to her then and she frowned, her brow furrowing. "Or did you want to do both? Cus I can totally talk while peeing, I do it like, aaaallll the time when we're on the phone, and ok, by the look on your face, I can tell that's TMI, so I'm just gonna shut up now," Caroline babbled, moving her thumb and forefinger across her lips in a zipping motion.

"Wow, Care, classy," Elena laughed, running a hand through her hair. "Honestly? I need some advice."

At this, Caroline brightened, obviously eager to share her expertise. Over the past few years, she'd been Bonnie and Elena's go-to girl whenever anything involving boys, makeup, or fashion came up, and for once, her skill in the subjects made her feel less bad about her deficiency in others.

"All Damon and I have done is…kiss, and that's great," Elena rushed her words, nervous to be voicing them, "I do want to take it slow but at some point, kissing won't be enough." Elena heaved a sigh in frustration. "It sounds so dirty somehow, like Katherine and I are playing musical chairs with both of them. Whenever it gets more intense with him, I freak out. I know he notices and he hasn't said anything about it, and weirdly, he's not pressuring for anything more, though God knows I expected him to."

"You're not Katherine," Caroline reassured her firmly. Yet somehow, Elena's fears weren't quite put to rest.

"But I still do love Stefan," Elena muttered, folding her arms across her chest and rubbing them for some sort of comfort. "I can't love them both, Care. I can't. It's like on one side there's Damon and on the other there's Stefan, and in the middle there's me and I just can't deal with it. It's too hard," Elena confided, tears welling in her eyes.

Sympathy shone through every pore in Caroline's face. She suddenly felt selfish and inadequate for not seeing what a tumultuous position her best friend was in. "Elena," she said gently, "You're everything that Katherine isn't. I wasn't around in 1864, and thank God for that, because corsets and not having the vote would like, totally suck, but I can tell you that if Katherine ever felt anything for either one of those two boys, it was because she wanted something from them. She was using them, Elena. When you love them, it's not for a selfish reason. It's because you actually love them for who they are rather than what they can offer you. And that's the difference."

Caroline's words made sense, and yet, they didn't really alleviate any of Elena's inner guilt and turmoil. On one hand, she felt like she was cheating on Stefan, while on the other she resented her past association with him because it stood in the way of her current undefined "thing" with Damon.

"I think," she said slowly, "I need to see Stefan."

* * *

By the time the girls emerged from the bathroom, both boys were looking testy and more than eager to leave. The muscle twitch in Tyler's jaw had grown more pronounced and Damon had an innocent, self-satisfied look on his face, which made Elena suspicious. He normally only had that look if he'd just done something particularly evil or if he'd succeeded in annoying someone to the point of violence, and since she knew Damon wasn't hatching any evil schemes, it had to be that he'd made a few choice comments to the other boy to get under his skin.

"Hey," Caroline chirped at them, ignoring the tension. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah," Tyler said, jumping to his feet, betraying himself with his eagerness to push off. At the pointed look Caroline gave me, he seemed to collect some of his manners and with a forced smile, he extended a hand to Damon. "Great to see you, man."

"Same to you," Damon said with a benevolent, jovial grin, returning the shake with a firm grip that made Tyler wince.

"Bye, Damon," Caroline said to the dark-haired vampire over Elena's shoulder as she gave her friend a tight squeeze.

"Bye, Barbie," Damon said with sugary-sweetness, thankfully leaving off the "vampire" part of her name for Tyler's benefit. All the same, the young Lockwood raised a brow with faint amusement at the endearment Damon bestowed on the blond.

With a last wave, Elena watched until Caroline and Tyler vanished out the doors of the restaurant before turning to Damon. "I'm so sorry about before," she apologized quickly, but he silenced her with a finger across her lips.

"Thank you," he said with a heartfelt, soul-searing, probing gaze. The words were simple but the intensity behind them could have filled up several pages of several books.

Taken aback by his heated look, Elena could only reply with "you're welcome", which seemed insufficient, but when he looked at her with his smoldering blue eyes, all other cognizant thought flew out of her brain.

* * *

The ride home was relatively quiet, the lull of the night only broken by the faint chirping of crickets and Elena's occasional fidget in the seat. Her expression was pensive, a stark contrast to the Cheshire grin on Damon's face.

"Damon," she stated, twisting around in the seat to face him. "I think we should define this thing we have, because as long as Stefan doesn't know about it, it feels like we're sneaking around. Like we're doing something wrong."

Damon's hands tightened on the wheel and he clenched his jaw. "It's not about my brother," he said after a long moment. "We don't have to do anything for his benefit. Besides, I'm pretty sure that he has an inkling about what we're getting up to," he leered at her, his eyes flashing with undisguised appreciation. "You did tell him you loved me."

"Damon," Elena chastised. "I was asleep, you ass. It's not fair to hold that against me. Don't you have some kind of 1864 code of honor that forbids you from holding something over a woman's head?" she asked with an arch look. Besides, she wasn't fully convinced she was in love with Damon, not just yet. As far as their relationship had come over the last year, she couldn't honestly say that she wanted to play on Team Damon's side with all her heart and soul.

"Eleneeena," he drawled, tapping the wheel with a trace of annoyance. "Seriously, what do you want to do? Go to the tomb and ask for his blessing? His permission? You want to talk through your feelings and make sure he's not going to rip off his ring and walk into the sunlight?" he scoffed, not bothering to hide how very ludicrous he found the scenario.

"Yes," Elena replied somberly. "It's the right thing to do."

Damon's next taunt died on his lips as he took in her guarded expression. Shit, she was serious. Doing the right thing could go to hell for all he cared but he could tell it was important to her, and by extension, he supposed it meant that it was important to him too. "Fine," he said grimly. "But make sure you do it for you and not for him."

The smile Elena sent his way was dazzling and for a moment he was rewarded by her hand squeezing his thigh in thanks. She whipped out her cell phone faster than the human eye could see and began dialing.

"Let's not waste any time, then," Damon said wryly, pulling into the Gilbert's driveway. Jenna had left the porch light on, presumably indicating she was still awake and probably sitting like one of those Mafia bosses in an armchair waiting for her niece to get home with her virtue intact.

"That's funny," Elena said thoughtfully, lowering the phone to her lap. "No one picked up." For a dreadful moment she imagined Katherine and Stefan entwined in each other's arms, kissing madly as they made rough vamp love all over every inch of the tomb. But then the vision vanished as she realized that even though Katherine was a wily temptress, Stefan's moral fiber was made of better stuff than that. She felt absolutely embarrassed for even having entertained the thought for a moment.

Damon caught the guilty expression on her face and he realized exactly where her thoughts had taken her. As much as it galled him that Stefan still held a piece of her heart and that she needed to make things okay with him, he understood better than anyone how all-consuming first love could be, and he knew that in time, Stefan's hold over her emotions would fade. "Pay him a visit in the morning," he suggested, turning off the engine and leaning towards Elena, brushing his lips over her neck. The spot he kissed her tingled and sent sparks of electricity shooting straight down to her toes, eliciting a breathy sigh from the brunette, who hastily removed her seat belt and pressed herself closer to Damon.

"Damon…."

"Mmm," he murmured against her skin, leaving soft butterfly kisses against the nape of her neck, moving his way up to claim her lips in a searing kiss as his hard mouth forced her pliant lips to part and make way for him.

"No, Damon, seriously, I don't want to do this in your car," Elena's voice piped up somewhere outside the hazy bubble of Damon's mind.

Paying her no mind, he resumed his efforts with vigor, moving a hand up her stomach to gently knead her breasts. He'd no sooner than cupped one of her small, perfect handfuls that she let out a startled gasp and pulled back, staring at him with wide brown eyes.

Damon immediately felt like a first-rate dolt and his expression twisted into one of remorse. "I'm so sorry, Elena," he apologized swiftly before she had a chance to chew him out.

She blushed. "No, it's okay. Just…not tonight, okay?"

"But soon?" Damon supplied.

"Soon," Elena affirmed.


	15. Chapter 15

The tomb was as dark as always, not even betraying the slightest movement of its inhabitants, or captives, which might have been the more appropriate word.

"Stefan?" Elena cautiously approached the entrance, trying to peer into the darkness. She allowed her eyes a minute to adjust but unlike vampires, her night-vision was considerably poorer, rendering her almost blind in the shadowy depths of the tomb.

"I expected you down here sooner," came Katherine's voice.

Flinching, Elena drew away quickly, taking a hurried step backwards just as Katherine came into view, looking substantially more smudged and grimy than she had a few days ago.

"I can smell Damon all over you," Katherine added in a conversational tone of voice, leaning against the entrance of the tomb as nonchalantly as though they were actually having a friendly conversation.

Elena knew a blush flooded her cheeks at his mention. Her dreams had been filled with him throughout the night, and while she wanted nothing more than to go back to the Boarding House to spend some time with him, she had to finish what she came here to do. "I wanted to see Stefan," Elena said firmly. "Can you get him for me?"

Katherine raised an eyebrow. She wasn't a messenger service. "No."

"No?" Elena's voice was marginally surprised.

"No."

"Why?"

Katherine raised her pointer finger in the air. "One, I don't want to." Up went the middle finger. "Two, I don't care." The third finger, the index, followed its brothers. "Three, all of the above." Katherine gave Elena an appraising glance. "Where's your minder?"

Ignoring her, Elena cupped her hands to her mouth and shouted again, "Stefan!" this time louder than before.

Wincing, Katherine sent her young descendant a scathing look. "Take it down an octave or two, he won't be able to hear you."

"What did you do to him?" Elena asked accusingly.

"Me?" Katherine actually had the gall to be affronted. "Nothing. He's just skulking off deeper inside. It's actually quite a maze down here and he wanted to get away from me." Unfazed by this, Katherine merely shrugged. "But I will find him." Her voice was self-satisfied. "I always find him."

Either she didn't know or didn't care how desperate her words sounded to Elena's ears.

The look on Katherine's face was utterly priceless as Elena blurted out without preamble, "You had to blackmail him into being with you. What does that tell you?"

Katherine recovered quickly, masking the surprised hurt that showed on her face with her typical sneer. "That I'm smart enough to get away with it."

The Gilbert girl fixed her ancestor with a steady gaze, trying to discern something that Katherine wasn't revealing. Sometimes she felt like she could understand Katherine and other times she didn't. The vampire was a twisted irony of nature, a beautiful flower that poisoned with its thorns. Did she mean to cause so much disruption? Or was it just her fate to consistently ruin everything she touched, the Midas of the modern world?

Katherine's skin crawled under the probe of Elena's gaze but she refused to retreat. As much as she disliked Elena, the thought of returning inside the depressing little hole she called home to a boy who she knew was repelled by her wasn't an appealing prospect - and so Katherine stayed. Elena's words had cut her deeply and though Katherine knew they weren't untrue, she still resented the accuracy with which they hit her. Still, she didn't resent it enough to leave, mostly because she was starved for companionship, and anyone, even Elena, would have to do. There was only so much of Stefan's stony, accusing silence that she could take.

"What?" Katherine snapped.

"I need to talk to Stefan," Elena said quietly, the words not quite a plea. "Would you get him for me?"

"We've been over this already, Elena. Keep up."

"What will it hurt?" Elena argued. "He's trapped in there with you, Katherine. With you. You've already won. You don't have to gloat or punish me by withholding him."

"What will it hurt?" Katherine repeated with a faint trace of anger in her practiced voice of bored superiority. "The fact that the second he comes within ten feet of you, he'll smell Damon seeping out of your every pore."

Taken aback, Elena could only scoff. "Don't pretend that you care about Stefan's feelings. Undoubtedly you'd try to use it to your own advantage by trying to seduce him when he's vulnerable. Assuming you haven't already."

As much as Katherine despised Elena and abhorred her current…liaison…with the older Salvatore, she didn't want her brief moment of triumph to be at Stefan's expense. "It didn't take you long, did it?" she asked scathingly.

Elena's eyes narrowed. "What didn't take long?"

"For you to turn into me," Katherine said simply. "Katherine 2.0 but without the brains, courage, and initiative. And the really nice hair. God, I'd hate to be stuck with…that," Katherine wrinkled her nose as she gestured with scorn towards Elena's straight brown hair.

And just like that, the dam was opened and venomous words came spewing out of Elena's mouth. She could verbally spar with Katherine all day but when she was being compared to the bitch in question, judged to be similar, no less, something malicious burst forth in her heart.

"You know why you're still in here? Because no one wants to get you out. You have minions, not friends. Never friends. Even Damon, who hardly anyone likes, would have been freed from here. But not you, Katherine. You spent your whole entire life concerned with your own agenda but you failed to see that after clawing your way to the top, that there'd be no one there left with you," came the words tumbling out of Elena's mouth. She paused only to take the smallest of breathes before her parting shot.

"If Stefan weren't in there with you, you'd be left to desiccate for the rest of your existence, because the world is better without you in it. You're toxic, Katherine. No one would care if they never saw you again."

Emotion flared within Katherine's eyes. She'd learned long ago that it was better to be feared than to be liked. She made no excuses for who she was, for what she'd done. She was an ill-fated child who had had her entire life ripped away before her, her family slaughtered, only a lifetime of running to look forward to. In a voice barely controlled with rage, she said finally, "Then be rid of my presence for good. Stefan has already given me his word."

Katherine extended the moonstone. Elena automatically reached forward to grab it, but Katherine was several feet inside the tomb and her only option would have been to go closer to Katherine. Close enough for Katherine to kill her. She withdrew her hand.

"We're not ready to perform the spell," she said with a frown.

"Yes, we are," came Bonnie's voice, strong and confident, from behind.

Katherine's eyes narrowed. Someone always had to come just in time to save poor, sweet, innocent Elena. Defenseless, helpless Elena who wouldn't do anything for herself and had to rely on vampires and witches and history teachers to keep her safe.

Elena whirled, heart pumping delectably, much to Katherine's consternation.

"Good," Katherine said, disappearing into the darkness of the tomb, presumably to find Stefan.

"Why didn't you call?" Elena asked, embracing her best friend. "How did it go with Lucy?"

"Pretty weird," Bonnie admitted. "Her boyfriend said she was out and didn't think she'd be back anytime soon. I kinda passed out on his couch," she let out an embarrassed laugh.

"God, Bonnie," Elena breathed in a hushed whisper. "Are you sure you can do this spell without her? You've been using so much magic lately. There's gotta be some negative side effects to channeling all that power."

"Elena, I'm fine," the ebony-haired witch assured her. "Here," she said quietly, pressing a small baggy of ash towards Elena. "It should keep her incapacitated for a few minutes, long enough for me to put the barrier back up."

"We need Damon here," Elena said decisively, reaching for her cell phone, but Katherine emerged back into view, a smirk on her face as she tossed the moonstone from hand to hand while a wary Stefan followed from behind. Discreetly, Elena moved the bag behind her back, removing a large clump of the ash into her fingers.

"No," Katherine dismissed Elena's wish abruptly, "The witch is here and that's all we need, right Stefan?" she cooed, slipping her hand into Stefan's, but the possessive smile she wore on her face told Elena that the words had been meant for her rather than the male vampire.

"I want to do it now. I can't trust you enough to give you any more time," Katherine added, eyes narrowing. "We do this now."

Bonnie's brow furrowed in concentration as she began chanting. Elena watched nervously, feeling a sinking sensation in her heart. So many things could go wrong. Damon needed to be here. What if Katherine apprehended her before she could throw the ash on her? What if Bonnie couldn't do it on her own? What if….

Her thoughts were cut off as Bonnie heaved a sigh of relief, panting slightly. "It's done," she said.

"That's it?" Katherine asked dubiously, glancing at Stefan for confirmation.

To answer her unspoken question he moved to the front of the tomb, placing his hands against the place where the barrier had been. His hand was able to pass through, so he took a step forward, and then another step.

Pure glee shone on Katherine's face but before she could take so much as a single step, Stefan's hand shot out and blocked her path.

"The moonstone, Katherine," he reminded her.

Katherine's hand clenched involuntarily around it. Even though she'd struck the bargain to hand over the moonstone, now that the time had come to actually do so, it went against every fiber of her being to relinquish something that was _hers_. But she knew Stefan had to trust her and that meant honoring her word. Looking into his green eyes, she took a deep breath, then held her hand out in front of Elena. "Take it," she said with a long-suffering sigh.

Elena's hand darted out to take it, the other hand still hiding the ash. Bonnie watched the exchange with shrewd, watchful eyes, but even she was unable to discern what happened next.

One moment, Elena had been facing Katherine and Stefan, and the next, she was staring back at herself and Bonnie. She blinked, scrunching her forehead together, before she realized….she was in the tomb.

The moonstone was pulled out of her grasp by…Elena? Elena's mouth opened to say something, to ask what the hell was going on, what trick had been played, but then she saw her mirror-image opposite her smile in way that she knew was unnatural.

The other Elena reached out and pulled Stefan to safety while Bonnie yelled, "Now, Elena!"

Elena panicked. What was going on? Why was she in the tomb? How had Katherine switched bodies with her? She moved forward, terrified, but then sooty ash was thrown on her and the next thing she knew, she was lying on her back, stiff as a board.

_Stefan….please, please realize it's not me_, she begged in her mind. Her body ached with the effort it took her to try to move, to open her mouth, to rise to her feet – but to no avail.

Her mind felt fuzzy, like her brain was filled with cotton balls. She could hear Katherine's voice as though it were coming from a long ways away.

"Stefan, let's go."

_That's my voice!_ Elena wanted to scream.

"We have to get out of here," came Bonnie's voice.

_Bonnie! You're my best friend! Come on, please, your witchy powers have to be on hyper alert right now. You know that's not me. Please help me._

Each and every one of her senses was screaming for her to do something but thanks to the ash that she'd ever so thoughtfully delivered right into Katherine's scheming hands, she was unable to do anything besides move her eyes.

They flared with fear as Stefan approached the tomb.

_Thank god. You came back for me. Thank you, thank you, thank you…no, what are you doing? Stefan? STEFAN!_

He was pushing the stone door to the tomb closed. He avoided her gaze until it was nearly entirely covered, and then through the slit, she could just barely make out one sparkling emerald eye.

"I'm sorry, Katherine," Stefan said solemnly to her, feeling a little tug at his heart for leaving her there. But then he reminded himself that with her locked up for good, it meant he wouldn't have to leave his town, that he could stay and help protect Elena. Maybe even win her back. His heart jolted with new-found hope.

It was better this way if she was out of their lives for good.

"Goodbye." He pushed the door shut and Elena was thrust into the pitch-black of her new prison.

* * *

**A/N: Drum roll please! We have officially hit the climax of the story, where at this point, anything goes. I welcome any ideas you guys have to offer and I might even try incorporating some of them into the next chapter (giving you a shout-out, of course :D ). Anything you guys wanna see in particular? **

**What I have planned is basically Katherine stealing Elena's life and making it hers and how she deals with her/Elena's relationship with Damon, since she's already made it clear all she wants is Stefan. Will Damon eventually realize that it's not really Elena? Or will he think she's changed her mind and decided to go back to Stefan? Only time will tell!**

**Reviews are love.  
**


	16. Chapter 16

Her limbs were stiff beyond imagining by the time Elena managed to move again. Her back ached as she managed to push herself into a sitting position, hearing light scratches and scurrying around her. Rats. Oh god, rats. Her skin crawled and she resisted the urge to scream. What would be the use? No one could hear her. As far as the others were concerned, big bad Katherine was still tucked away in the tomb. Elena's arms wrapped around herself and she took a deep breath, trying to calm her rapidly escalating heartbeat. What time was it? She couldn't even remember how many hours had passed. Or had it only been minutes? Her memory seemed dim and all she could focus on was a gnawing feeling of desperate hunger in her belly. Her throat was dry – how long could a person survive without water?

Elena sighed, bringing her knees up to her chest. Technically, if she was in Katherine's body, she wasn't a person. She a vampire, and she doubted that the undead require any sustenance other than blood. Her skin was grimy from going unwashed for so long and her dress clung to her like dirt.

Finally, Elena couldn't resist the temptation to cry any longer. She buried her face in her arms and howled, tears of despair streaking down her cheeks, the scalding liquid washing away some of the grime smudging her cheeks.

* * *

"Elena, are you all right?" Bonnie asked as she and Elena dropped Stefan off at the Boarding House. The whole ride home, Elena had been strangely quiet, and rather than taking the front seat, had opted to stay in the backseat with Stefan. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but…Bonnie couldn't put her finger on it, but something was wrong. But when she saw Stefan smile a heartfelt smile of adoration and love at her best friend, she banished the thought from her mind.

"Totally, Bon," Elena replied, shaking her hair loose until it settled around her shoulders like a chocolate cascade. "It's just been such a long night and Stefan needs to get some blood in him before he snacks down on me," she joked.

Bonnie blinked. She'd never heard Elena be so flippant about Stefan's diet before.

"Um, talk tomorrow? At school?" Katherine quickly covered. Damn. She wasn't as good at pretending to be Elena as she'd thought if the witch was already suspicious.

"Sure, Elena," Bonnie replied with a cautious smile. She reached out to touch Stefan's arm. "I'm glad you're okay. Get some rest, ok?"

"Will do, Bonnie. And thank you again," Stefan replied, glancing at Elena. Would she stay or would she leave with Bonnie?

The same question seemed to be on the witch's mind as she turned to look at her friend.

Katherine's brow furrowed for a second. She was supposed to be with Damon, wasn't she? At least, she assumed Elena had been shacking up with the elder Salvatore, since his scent was always on her like the noxious odor of Granny perfume. "I think I'm going to stay here. Just to make sure he's okay," she said, trying to inflect the right amount of worry and consideration into her tone.

As the two entered the house and disappeared inside, Bonnie started the engine, glancing at their retreating backs. "I'm okay too," she muttered, wondering why she was annoyed with the fact that Elena hadn't bothered to verify she was okay as well. She rubbed the bridge of her nose. All she wanted to do was go home and sleep off the exhausting events of a very, very long day.

"So, we're home now. Home sweet home," Katherine said, running her finger along a able in the foyer as Stefan shut the door behind them.

"Home," Stefan echoed. He cast a glance upstairs, wondering where Damon was. Why hadn't he been there when they'd rescued him from the tomb? He would have thought Damon would have loved to see Katherine get her just deserts.

"Um, you should probably feed," Katherine pointed out. "Should I warm you up a blood bag?"

Stefan's eyes bugged out. "No!" he exclaimed. At her surprised look, he quickly amended, "No, thank you."

"It's just blood, Stefan."

"Yeah, but I don't want you doing that. I can just go hunt. I won't be long."

"Stefan, wait." Katherine forced her voice to sound pleading, on the verge of even being considering needy. "Please, just…stay where I can see you, okay? I just got you back." Her arms went around him and she inhaled his familiar scent. He was the air she would kill to breathe. Katherine's arms tightened around his waist, trying to evoke some sort of response for him. Finally, his arms came around her hesitantly as he held her. "It'll be okay, Stefan. We'll be okay," she crooned softly into his neck.

"What do you mean?" Stefan broke apart from her, an expression of worry descending upon his features.

Katherine smiled coyly. "I mean us, Stefan. I don't like the way we ended things."

"There's nothing to discuss," Stefan said shortly, running a hand through his hair roughly, giving her a scowl. "We both made our own decisions."

"You saved my life, Stefan, knowing what it would mean if you stepped foot inside the tomb. You knew you'd be trapped and you did it anyway."

"I'll do anything to keep you safe, Elena," Stefan said stiffly. "Vampires do things one-hundred percent, you know that. I'll protect you until the day you die."

Staggered, Katherine could only look at him in surprise. No matter what hell Elena put him through, he'd always put her first in his heart. She suddenly hated being called Elena, hearing "that girl's" name on Stefan's tongue like it was something special.

"You say that now, but you were ready to leave town with Katherine," the female vampire pointed out. "How is that protecting me? If you wanted Katherine dead she would have been dead when you and Damon trapped her in the tomb. Instead you let her live. And don't give me that crap about poetic justice."

Stefan said nothing, just stood there, staring at her.

"You would have actually left with her," Katherine said slowly. "You would have left me and you would have never seen me again, just for the moonstone?"

Silence.

"Are you mute?" Katherine demanded angrily. Suddenly she was seeing a new side of Stefan, a side that made her think he wasn't as unhappy to have been blackmailed by her as he appeared to be.

"You still feel something for her," she said flatly, a statement, not a question.

"She…she stirs me," Stefan admitted. "I do feel something for her but…but why do you care anyway? You couldn't even choose me," he said sadly, pain etched on his face. "When it came down to it, you couldn't take Damon out of the equation."

"I…" Katherine broke off. This wasn't how she had envisioned things going. It was supposed to be so easy once she'd wrangled her way into Elena's body. She and Stefan would have a tearful reunion and make up, have amazing sex, she'd get to break Damon's heart all over again, and it was a total win-win. Instead, she'd gotten herself into a way too emotional conversation with Stefan and it looked as though Stefan had neither forgiven nor forgotten.

"Look, all that matters is that I'm here now. Your plan worked. Katherine's stuck in the tomb. No one is leaving anywhere, not me, and certainly not her."

The way he said that made Katherine dart a glance at him. Had he sounded…sorrowful? "You felt bad for leaving her there?"

Stefan's expression grew pained. "I know if it came down to it, she would have made her escape and left me in there until she deigned to come back," Stefan scoffed. "But not everyone is as self-serving as Katherine. I loved her once. I can't honestly say it means _nothing_ anymore. It'll always be there between us. Maybe it's sick, but I do care about what happens to her. She'll hate being imprisoned more than she would hate dying."

"I don't know about that," Katherine shrugged. "She seemed like a resourceful girl. She probably has some tricks up her sleeve. And besides, if she's spent 500 years running from Klaus, it's not likely she'd give up the value of her own life so easily. At least while she's trapped in there, she has a chance at escape. A slim one, but still."

"She doesn't have any chance at all," Stefan said hollowly. "The only people who ever gave a shit were me and Damon, and look how that turned out. Katherine won't have anyone looking for her. No, I don't think she'll be able to Houdini herself out of this one."

"No," Katherine echoed, pulling him back into an embrace. "She won't." A slow, cruel smile spread over her face. "She'll never see the light of day again."

* * *

Damon was pleasantly surprised with tonight's success. He'd mingled with Elena's friends, wined and dined the girl herself, and there was a good chance that she'd be at the Boarding House waiting for him after her little chat with Stefan.

After dropping her off, he'd hit up a nearby hospital for some blood, making sure to compel everyone in sight. It sucked that lately he'd had to go farther and farther away to avoid detection but short of using the people of Mystic Falls as his blood supply, he had no other option. And Elena would never allow that.

He smiled as he approached his front door, expecting to see a sweetly smiling Elena on the other side.

Damon froze.

She stood there, right in the foyer, arms wrapped around his brother. Before he could even process the fact that Stefan was out of the tomb, Elena pressed herself closer against his brother, her gaze locking onto Damon's.

Feeling like someone had just ripped out his heart, Damon could only stand there in stunned horror as Elena smiled at him, then turned to kiss Stefan on the lips. "Stefan, look who's here," she murmured softly, trying to mask her triumph as she saw Damon's lips whiten with barely concealed rage and jealousy.

"You dick," hissed Damon, flying at his brother.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who left me such sweet reviews! I only wish all the kind anons would register, so I can thank you personally. I posted an EXTRA long chapter just to say thank you to all the awesome people who are still following along with this story & because I'm so touched that some of you have been with me right from the beginning. Can you believe it's been so long? So guys, this is for you.  
**

* * *

Katherine didn't know how long the fight went on, but she could tell that there wasn't a likely end in sight. Despite the ashen pallor of his skin and the lack of blood in his system, Stefan held his own. It was only when Damon dodged the punch Stefan threw and threw the younger vampire against the wall, sending shelves of books crashing to the floor, that Katherine thought she should intervene. Not that she didn't like witnessing both boys fighting over her, it was strangely arousing, but she really didn't want to see Stefan die by his brother's hand.

"I should have known better than to trust you," growled Stefan, painfully struggling to his feet.

"Trust me? I was the one begging you not to agree to Katherine's terms, but noooo, you had to be the damn hero. No, stay down," Damon snapped, swiftly sending a kick to Stefan's injured side, sending the fair-haired vampire crumpling to the floor.

"You act like you're the only one who has Elena's best interests at heart," Damon seethed. "What, there's just one hero role available and you're it?"

"I never said I was a hero," hissed Stefan, making no move to rise. Not only was he not healing quickly, he wasn't healing at all. "But I'm not the one who loses my temper and snaps. I'm also not the one who killed Jeremy. I'm not the one who fed on and used Caroline. I'm not the one who makes monumental mistakes, like turning Vicki. You're out of control, Damon. And trying to steal my girl? It's like 1864 all over again."

"You were practically broken up with Elena," Damon dismissed, circling Damon like a predator. "And you're welcome to Katherine. In fact, you're welcome to both of them." Damon turned to Katherine, his face a myriad of emotions, ranging from hurt to betrayed to angry. In the end, his face took on the stony mask of indifference he'd perfected when he'd first come to Mystic Falls. "They're cut from the same cloth."

Katherine wisely said nothing, although something inside her tugged at Damon's words.

"I'm done with both of you," Damon shook his head.

"Wait," Stefan managed, rising to his feet with obvious difficulty. Katherine moved forward instinctively to help him, hurt when he shrugged off her arm.

Damon watched with shrewd eyes. "Always making sure Stefan's okay," he said bitterly.

"You shouldn't have beaten him," Katherine retorted. "He was weak. It wasn't a fight between equals. Your problem is with me, Damon, not him."

"Yes, Elena, what is your problem?" Damon demanded, blurring in front of her, wrenching her from Stefan's side and crushing her against his chest. A part of him was incredibly pissed off and the other part was just bewildered. He'd seen the way Elena looked at him, he knew that she cared. He knew that even if she did go running back to Stefan, she wouldn't have been so callous about it, she wouldn't have returned to Stefan without feeling conflicted about it. But the Elena who stared back at him had only cold disregard in her eyes. Unlike the molten chocolate he knew them to be, they were like chips of hard stone. "Tell me you don't feel this, when I touch you," he whispered.

Katherine pushed weakly at his chest, but it was no use. Her meager human strength was such an inconvenience, she inwardly raged. She'd forgotten that with Elena's human body came Elena's mortal capabilities. She missed her old strength, when she could have rendered Damon immobile by now.

"Let her go," Stefan said in a low voice.

"Not until she explains," Damon responded, giving Elena a shake, his fingers digging into her forearms roughly, hard enough to leave an imprint of his fingers for days to come.

Katherine let out a small cry of distress, which caused Stefan to rise to his full height and move intimidatingly towards Damon.

"I said, LET. HER. GO." With the last of his dwindling strength, Stefan rushed Damon, sending both boys crashing into a chair. Damon was able to recover faster and he grabbed a leg of the chair, moving towards Stefan with a murderous look in his eyes.

"No!" shrieked Katherine, running towards them. She damned her human speed, forgetting momentarily that she was constrained by human agility but she managed to get there just as Damon raised the stake. Her hand shot out just as Damon brought the stake down.

With a muffled curse, Damon wrenched Elena's hand out of the way, not being mindful of his own strength. Her wrist snapped instantly.

The whole room froze. Damon's eyes widened in horror with the realization of what he had just done. Katherine's mouth opened in a silent scream of agony, no sound emitting as she clutched her shattered wrist to her chest.

"Elena, I am so sorry…I didn't mean to – " Damon started to say, but Stefan protectively sheltered Elena with his body.

"Get out. You're not my brother anymore," he spat venomously at Damon. "Go on! Get out of here!"

Damon didn't need telling twice. He blurred out the door before he had to face Elena's stricken face, condemning him for being such a fiend.

* * *

Time had lost all meaning for Elena. She slept intermittently, cried occasionally, and attempted to explore the tomb to see if she could find another way out. She knew it was pointless, because Katherine would have escaped long ago if she could have managed it, and the tomb vampires before her. But it seemed like an even worse idea to sit around and do nothing.

Her fingernails raked at the wall in anguish as she slumped to the ground, trying to take up as little space as possible. She didn't trust that the rats would stay away from her. Her sleep was plagued with visions of them nibbling at her fingers and ears and toes while she slept. Shuddering, Elena wrapped her arms around herself. God only knew what havoc Katherine would be creating in her body. Oh…oh no. Katherine was in her body. It felt vile and dirty that Katherine should be inhabiting her form, free to do with it as she pleased.

Elena had run out of tears a long time ago. Her tear tracks had dried across her face and no amount of swiping would get her eyes to stop burning from the streaking mascara that Katherine had liberally applied the night of the masquerade.

A scraping noise was heard at the opening of the tomb and Elena immediately scrambled to her feet. "Stefan?" she called out, rushing to the door. She wasn't aware that the movement would cause her to launch into vamp-mode, and she blurred there within the blink of an eye. "Whoa," she whispered.

Finally, the rock was heaved away and in the light stood a figure that Elena could barely make out. She shielded her sensitive eyes against the glare, staring at the man. "Elijah."

"Hello, Katerina," Elijah's eyes raked over her appearance and then he frowned. "Not Katerina."

"How did you – " Elena gaped.

"Your soul," Elijah remarked with a tired sigh. "Perhaps your witch friend can explain it better, but when you've lived as long as I have, you understand that the body and the soul must be in unison in order to be in harmony. A human comprised of disjointed soul and body…"Elijah trailed off. "Let us just say that the balance has been broken by this new devilry. Katerina's doing, I presume?"

"She switched us," Elena rushed to say. "When she gave me the moonstone…" she motioned helplessly down at herself, "this happened."

"How disheartening for you that none of your friends have noticed the difference," Elijah said musingly, looking at Elena in an interested fashion, like she was under his microscope.

"Things have been…"Elena started to defend her friends, then paused. "I don't owe you an explanation, Elijah," she said instead.

"Come now, is that any way in which to speak to your dear friend?" Elijah tutted at her. "You're not in a position to be so picky about your allies, dear Elena." He gestured to Elena to approach.

"I can't," the brunette huffed, running a hand through her greasy brown hair, courtesy of Katherine.

"I think you'll find that you can," Elijah said gently.

Elena took a hesitant step forward, then another, then another. "I'm…free," she said with awe, giving Elijah a jubilant look. "I'm free!" she repeated again, louder this time. Noticing Elijah's pointed stare, she quickly added, "Thanks to you."

"Yes," the vampire said with satisfaction. "As you can see, Elena, I have many resources at my disposal which would be very much of interest to you if you'd let me assist you."

"You assist me?" Elena gave him a wary look. "With what?"

"Killing Klaus, of course. My brother."

"Your brother," Elena said slowly. "Why? How?" Before Elijah could respond, a wracking pain in her stomach sent Elena doubling over, feeling as though an invisible band was contracting around her inside. "I can't…I need…" she gasped.

"You need blood. I can procure some for you, quite easily," Elijah said, reaching into his suit to remove a blood bag. "Here," he offered it to her.

"No. It's human," Elena said, tearing her gaze away from the offering with difficulty.

"It's either this or you lose control and attack a human," Elijah said reasonably. "You need to feed before we leave here. You're in no condition to go anywhere in your present state."

"Fine," Elena managed through gritted teeth. She reached for the bag and then instinct took over. Her fangs elongated and she punctured the bag with razor-sharp teeth, quickly devouring the thick crimson liquid. She kept drinking until it was all gone and then in frustration she threw it to the floor. She almost hissed at Elijah that she wanted more, but reined herself in. God, what was wrong with her? She was human! She wasn't supposed to lust for blood. She wasn't supposed to crave the taste of it on her tongue.

"Full?" Elijah supplied, a knowing look on his face.

Elena glared at him. "What happens now? You're not going to deliver me to him, are you?"

Elijah shook his head. "Even if I wanted to, you're less than useless to him as a vampire. He needs you human. Now, are you prepared to make a deal with me?"

"I want to go home first," Elena said petulantly. She desperately desired a hot bath to wash the filth off her.

Elijah frowned at that, and Elena was afraid she'd crossed a line and he'd retaliate in some vicious way, but instead he merely motioned for her to precede him out of the tomb. "Very well. I may call upon you tomorrow at your residence?"

"Um…" Elena hesitated.

"Don't forget who freed you, Elena," Elijah reminded her, a pleasant smile still on his face, but his tone was silky like a serpent's.

"Fine," Elena sighed. "What deal are you offering?"

* * *

By the time Elena finally managed to leave the tomb, an hour had passed, and she was exhausted. Her skin had lost its grayish hue but she was no less hungry now that she had been while being stuck in Katherine's desiccation.

After checking in with Jeremy and making sure he knew what was going on, the first thing she did was go to the Boarding House. Damon wasn't home, which was odd, but Elena decided to use Damon's shower in the meanwhile until he returned. Soft noises were emerging from Stefan's room but unwilling to investigate for fear of having to speak to him, Elena hurried to Damon's room, trying to make as little noise as possible. Humming to herself, she lathered up with soap and made liberal use of Damon's expensive hair products. By the time she got out of the shower, every inch of her skin was red. She didn't have any other changes of clothes here other than the grungy dress she'd been wearing, and the thought of putting that dirty thing on her freshly washed skin made Elena cringe, so she rummaged through Damon's drawers until she found something that would fit her. Somewhat. She felt wholly rejuvenated after her ordeal, especially since she now knew that they could count on Elijah's help. His deal had been surprisingly in her favor, Elena had to admit, and despite herself, she felt an odd sense of camaraderie with the Original. She couldn't wait to assure Damon that they didn't have to fear Elijah anymore.

She surveyed her appearance in the mirror, satisfied. Her hair was tousled and damp and Damon's gun-metal gray shirt ended just below her ass. Despite her scrubbed, makeup-free face and youthful appearance, the whole effect was rather sexy, and Elena smiled in spite of herself. She glanced at the clock at Damon's bedside table. It read 5:00 a.m. She'd only been stuck in the tomb for six hours? It had felt like so much longer.

Hearing footsteps falling just outside of the door, Elena hurried to the huge bed and buried herself under the covers. As Damon entered, looking drunk and totally wrecked, Elena frowned and sat up on her knees, giving him a long look. "What's wrong?"

Damon's eyes flashed with fire and he blurred to the bed, pushing her against the headboard, his hard body pinning her in place. "You think that just because you come to my bed and dress in one of my shirts that I'll share you?" he hissed. "I'm not that easy, Elena."

"Damon, you don't unde– " Elena started to say, but he cut her off.

"Spare me the lies, Elena. You're _despicable_, you know that? Katherine toyed with me, but you're the one who broke me," he hissed, breath fanning out against her ear. "Say goodbye to any last vestige of humanity I had within me. Because of you, I will never speak to my brother again. He disowned me." He gave her a rough shake. "You spend so much time making sure you're not Katherine that you don't realize that you're already her."

"What?" Elena felt something inside her twist. Had Katherine fooled Stefan into believing she wanted to get back together. What had gone on in her absence? That would explain why Damon was so wrecked…but how could he believe she would do that to him?

Elena grabbed his hand before he could continue talking. "I'm Elena but I'm…I'm in Katherine's body. Just please, feel." Before he could protest, she pressed his hand against her chest so he could feel her lack of heart beat.

For a brief moment, his blue eyes flared with longing but then understanding replaced the lust and he snarled. "Katherine," he breathed. "How did you get out?" Instantly, his hands were around her throat, his eyes, so vulnerable and pained before, now filled with a malicious, maniacal gleam.

"Damon, stop, it's Elena!" she gasped, clawing at his hands.

"You're always lying!"

"I'm not!" Elena all but shouted. She just wanted him to listen to her, god damn it. She shoved at his chest as hard as she could. Damon went flying backwards and hit the wall. "Damon, I'm so sorry," she babbled quickly, falling to her knees beside him. "You were drunk and I was scared, and…and are you okay?"

"Get away from me," Damon hissed, launching away from her. "I'm just here to gather my things before I leave Mystic Falls. You and Elena can continue to fight for Saint Stefan's affections without me." He snorted. "Though you won't get far. You can't break their unbreakable bond. Nothing can get between those two, and believe me, I've tried."

"Damon, please, listen to me, I'm Elena. I'm not Katherine," she begged, but he pushed past her.

"Damon! Listen to me!" she exclaimed, giving him another push, surprised by her own strength. He hit the wall with a loud thud. Wow, she could get used to this.

The bedroom door burst open and Stefan stood there, shirtless, the expression on his face furious. "What the hell?" he demanded. Then he turned and saw Elena standing there. "You let her out?" Stefan whipped his gaze to Damon. "Just because Elena came to her senses you had to run out and get your own doppelganger? Are you that petty? What is this, Damon? Huh? I hurt you so you have to get revenge by letting Katherine out?"

"I'm not Katherine," Elena blurted out, feeling sick to death at having to repeat it so many times. And what the hell did Stefan mean by that condescending remark, "coming to her senses"?

"Yes, you are," Stefan insisted, advancing on her. "Because Elena is in the next room with me."

Elena's world literally stopped. "You slept with her?" she managed to say in a half-whisper. Her head ached like she'd just been run over and for the first time, she understand what Stefan had meant when he'd said that as a vampire, your emotions were all so much more intense.

Damon looked at her, really looked at her this time, a contemplative expression on his face. "Elena, do you believe in fate?"

"This is no time for – " Stefan began, but Damon shushed him.

"If she knows the answer, then we'll know which one she is," Damon argued.

"No," Elena said promptly, thankful that Damon at least was finally willing to hear her out.

"Who did we have dinner with?"

"Caroline and Tyler."

"When we stopped at Burger King on the way home from Slater's, were you jealous when I drank from the waitress?"

Elena stared at him, a smile twisting the corner of her lips. A trick question. They'd stopped at a Wendy's, not a Burger King. "Of course I was jealous, you jerk," she said lightly. "And it was a Wendy's, and all you had was a water, and I told you the Cold War between us was over."

"It's really her," Damon confirmed with awe, approaching Elena cautiously.

"It can't be," Stefan shook his head, less convinced. If that was Elena...then that meant...Stefan felt sick. That meant he'd just had sex with Katherine.

"Hello, Elena," interrupted Katherine from the door, dressed in only a bed sheet, tapping her foot against the wooden floor.

All three faces whirled to face her; Elena's horror-struck, Damon's maniacal, and Stefan's a mix of resignation and rage.

"Is it fun being me?" Katherine smirked evilly.

* * *

**A/N: I honestly planned to leave Elena in the tomb for longer...at this point it's pretty much just been about six hours that Elena has been stuck in the tomb, but the characters had a will of their own and I introduced Elijah, and from that point on, they just came to life and went in a different direction than the one I had planned out! But I'm really satisfied with how this turned out, so I hope no one is disappointed with Elena's swift return.**


End file.
